


Fate: The Winx Saga Re-Do

by FanDreams01



Series: The Fate of Winx (AKA how I would have written Fate: The Winx Saga) [1]
Category: Fate: The Winx Saga (TV), Winx Club
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Characters to be added, Complicated Relationships, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Hurt/Comfort, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:15:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 19,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29041485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanDreams01/pseuds/FanDreams01
Summary: Bloom lived her whole life in the First World, the world we know, before discovering she had magic and being whisked into the Other World, where fairies like her could train their magic and learn to control it. But this raises so many questions: are her parents really hers? If not, who are her parents? And why was she sent to the First World? Alfea seems to be full of secrets the Headmistress isn't telling anyone.At least she has her roommates to help her figure it out.OrA rewrite of the Fate show that's more accurate to the original. (Note: I thought the show was decent on it's own, just not a good adaptation.)
Relationships: Aisha | Layla & Bloom & Flora & Musa & Stella & Tecna (Winx Club), Beatrix & Dane & Riven (Winx Club), Beatrix/Riven (Winx Club), Bloom/Sky (Winx Club), Brandon & Sky, Brandon/Stella (Winx Club), Farah Dowling & Ben Harvey & Saul Silva, Saul Silva & Sky
Series: The Fate of Winx (AKA how I would have written Fate: The Winx Saga) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178009
Comments: 68
Kudos: 232





	1. Stella

The lights flash overhead, and though Stella finds it slightly irritating, it almost acts as a hypnotic spell from a mind fairy, helping sweep away her responsibilities and worries, right alongside the pounding music.

She dances to the beat, arms flinging and body swaying. She knows she’s terrible at club-style dancing, she flails where she knows graceful movements and flowing motions. But the whole point is to forget being the crown princess of Solaria and act like a normal teenager, no ballet or ballroom dancing involved.

Stella glances at her watch, noticing that she only had an hour before curfew - or. More accurately, an hour until her mother or someone else noticed she was gone.

Stella shuddered at the thought and sighed, picking her way through the crowded dancefloor towards the back exit. It was easier to sneak out that way without a bouncer questioning her.

The alley she exited into was dark and damp, night had fallen and Stella glanced around, feeling slightly unnerved. She debated lighting a spark to help her see better, but decided against it. She’d already broken enough rules, and didn’t want to risk getting caught by a First Worlder.

“Hey,” 

Stella turned at the sound of a new voice, noticing a group of three guys and a girl with bright red hair pulled back in a low ponytail.

“Go away, please. I’m just trying to go home.” The girl tried to shrug off one of the boys’ hands. 

“Aw, don’t be like that. Come party with us some more.” One of them offered.

“ _ No _ , thanks.” The girl tried to assert more forcefully.

One grabbed her arm as she tried to walk away, and Stella opened her mouth, ready to interfere.

“I said,” The girl grit out, “I’m leaving.” Her eyes flashed and a small flame lit on the shirt of the one holding her.

He let out a startled cry and let go, batting out the fire. He looked at her with wide eyes. “The fuck? Let’s get out of here,”

Clearly unnerved, the boys fled with their tails between their legs.

The girl remained, wide eyed and staring at her hands.

Stella walked over at a brisk pace, walking as fast as she could in her heels. “Hey,” she called to the girl.

She looked over quickly. “I just want to go home,” She tried in a placating voice, hands raising in surrender, before she dropped them quickly.

“Are you from the Other World too?” Stella asked, when she reached her.

“Other… World?” 

Stella raised an eyebrow. “You’re not? But you just used magic.” 

The girl blinked, looking down at her hands. “Magic? I-I’ve never done that before.”

“Do you live here?” Stella questioned.

“Where else would I live?” The girl gave her a strange look. “Who are you?”

Stella debated her options. The girl clearly had magic, even if not fully aware of it. Of course, that meant she had to be First Worlder, and magic in First Worlders had been unheard of for… years. If this girl was eft alone it wouldn’t end well.

“Stella, I’m the Crown Princess of Solaria and a fairy.” 

The girl’s eyes widened. “P-Princess? Fairy?”

Stella nodded. “Yes, that’s what you are too, I think. You must be from a dormant magic blood line, one of the few not in the Other World.”

The girl looked down at her hands and then at where the boys had disappeared. “I… didn’t mean to do that. How do i control it?”

Stella hesitated. She knew techniques, obviously, but not very good ones. She was repeating a year at Alfea because of her horrible training. “I couldn’t tell you, I’m just learning magic myself. But, there is a school.”

The girl’s shoulders sagged. “My family couldn’t afford it.” She tensed then. “I can’t tell my parents.”

Stella looked the girl up and down. Fire fairies could be destructive if left untrained, and she could pose a risk to the Other World if people discovered her magic. “I can talk to the Headmistress, she’s a friend of my mom.”

The girl bit her lip and wrung her hands nervously, before nodding. “Okay, I can always tell my parents it’s a boarding school… or something.”

Stella smiled encouragingly. “Alright, I need to be going, but if you give me your number I can contact you when I’ve talked to the headmistress.” She offered her phone to the girl.

She took it and plugged in her number, handing it back to Stella.

Stella offered a friendly smile and a playful, two-finger salute. “See you around,”

Turning, she decided to show off just a bit, and opened a portal, hearing the small gasp behind her.

The portal closed, and Stella found herself outside the main gates of the Solarian palace.  _ That was certainly an interesting night _ , she absently thought, stretching as she approached the entrance.

“Stella.”

She froze at the stern voice and looked forward, her mother stood there, face stone blank and figure imposing.

She was late. Stella gulped.

It wasn’t until later when Stella, body shaking and gaze darting around for any possible distortions, checked her phone for the girl’s name.

Bloom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm putting the characters at Freshman in college/university age, because I feel like it works better for the idea that Bloom's parents don't know the school as well as some of the darker concepts in the story.  
> Yeah, we're not endangering best adoptive parents just because the show decided to give them bad parenting techniques. Also, the talk of introducing the magic world to Bloom is kind of awkward but, I didn't know how else to do it lol. Hopefully the next chapter will be better.  
> Hope you enjoyed the first chapter!


	2. Bloom

Bloom didn’t know what she had been expecting when she’d heard about Alfea from Stella. The girl had texted her a few days after Bloom met her and said that Headmistress Dowling wished to speak with her over a facetime.

Two weeks paced, and Bloom stood in front of the school.

It was more modern than she’d expected, though the architecture still held a graceful feeling with arched doorways and a high tower. Bloom wondered if there were secret passages, it felt like the kind of school to have them.

“Hey, Bloom,” Bloom looked over and spotted Stella approaching her. The other girl’s blond hair cascaded down her back like a golden waterfall and her orange sundress bounced with her steps. “What do you think?”

Boom glanced around again, at the girls and boys milling around like it was just another day. It looked almost like very college campus she’d toured during highschool. It was a little underwhelming; Bloom had grown up with stories of magic and fairies.

“It’s… not what I expected,” she admitted, shifting her backpack on her shoulder.

Stella raised an eyebrow. “What did you picture?” there was nothing but curiosity in her voice, so Bloom figured she wouldn’t judge.

“I don’t know… Tinkerbell?”

Stella snorted. “Tinkerbell was a pixie, actually, not a fairy.”

Bloom looked at her in curiosity. “A pixie?”

“They’re fairy companions, give us a bit of a magic boost.” Stella explained.

Bloom nodded, and then asked, “Why doesn’t anyone have wings?”

Stella smiled indulging. “We can, it’s a form of transformation magic, we’re all capable of it, but it takes a stronger grasp on magic than first years having starting out. Most fairies can transform by the end of their first year though.”

Bloom’s eyes lit up. “Cool.”

“Alright, well, I have to go talk with Headmistress Dowling about some things, I’ll see you at the dorm.” Stella told Bloom, waving goodbye.

“Ah, wait, Stella!” Bloom called after the other, but Stella had already disappeared. “I… don’t know where the dorms are…” She shifted nervously and muttered to herself, “Okay, it can’t be too hard to find.”

Bloom started toward on of the buildings to the side of the main school. It was mounted with statues of dragons and griffins and a red flag with a yellow triquetra hung above the entrance.

A hand reached out and grabbed her and Bloom jerked away instinctually, whirling around to find herself faced with a tall, muscular blonde with bright blue eyes.

“Woah,” he said, raising his hands in surrender, “Sorry.” He glanced down and asked, “Fire fairy?”

Bloom followed his gaze and cursed when she noticed the small sparks coming off her fingers. That had been happening more and more frequently since that first incident outside the club.

Bloom shot the boy a sheepish smile. “Uh, yeah, sorry.” She offered a hand. “I’m Bloom.”

He smiled and shook it. “Brandon.”

Bloom smiled back.

“So, can I ask what you’re doing outside of the Red Fountain Dormitory?” Brandon questioned.

Bloom’s eyebrows furrowed. “What?”

Sky let out an amused laugh. “You’re new, aren’t you?”

Bloom shrugged. “So what if I am?”

“Alfea isn’t just a school for fairies. It trains warriors too, Specialists. Red Fountain is the name for the Specialist dorms.” Sky explained. “Most people know that going in.” The last sentence is said with a questioning lilt.

“I’m from the First World, this whole thing is new to me.” Bloom admitted, toying with her dragon pendant, a gift from her parents before she left for “Switzerland.”

Brandon blinked in shock before taking in Bloom’s guarded posture and shrugging it off. “Well then, if you have any questions, come find me.”

Bloom blinked in shock. Was he… hitting on her?

“Brandon?”

They both turned and Bloom spotted a brunet waving Brandon down. She glanced and noticed Brandon scowl for a split second before his face regained it’s smile.

“Your dorms are on the other side of campus. I’ll see you around, Bloom.” He told her before running after the other boy.

Bloom watched him disappear like Stella, before turning back around the way she came and making her way to the other side of campus.

The building she found was surrounded by different flowers and the walls were covered in vines. Older students were out in the courtyard practicing magic, and Bloom watched for a few minutes as they made plants grow, and water float before heading inside to find her room.

“Name?” A prim woman with a bob and glasses stood in the entrance holding a clipboard.

“Bloom Peters.”

“Hmm,” the woman scanned her clipboard. “Top floor, room 4017.”

“Thank you,” Bloom replied before making her way to the staircase and beginning the long climb.

“There has to be an easier way of doing that,” she panted once she’d reached the top. Lugging her suitcase up had not been fun, and she was prepared to flop onto her new bed for some needed recovery.

Room 4017 wasn’t that hard to find. If Bloom turned right at the top of the stairs, walked to the end of the hall and turned left it was the last door.

She walked in to chaos. The common room was a mess, the couch overturned and a side table knocked over.

“ _ Merde _ ,” A girl cursed as she chased after a plant using it’s ines to crawl around the room away from her. It took advantage of Bloom entering the room, changing direction and darting toward her.

Bloom shrieked and stepped away as the plant moved.

A hand reached down from behind Bloom and grabbed the plant’s pot, holding it up.

A girl with bright pink hair in a pixie cut stood there, eyebrow raised. “Why do we have sentient plants?” She asked curiously.

The girl who had been chasing the plant originally came up to them. She was plump and had brown hair with blonde streaks framing her face. “I am so sorry, I was trying a new spell, and it didn’t go so well. I’m Flora, by the way.”

“Tecna,” the pink haired girl responded absently, examining the plant who tried to escape her grasp. “This is extremely interesting. Imagine the technological advancements we could make with spells like this…” She looked sharply up at Flora. “You have to tell me all about it,”

Flora blinked in surprise. “Oh, um, maybe later?” She turned to Bloom, “Nice to meet you, sorry about the plant.”

Bloom offered her a timid grin. “It’s alright. I’m Bloom.”

Flora nodded and then seemed to remember something. “Oh, two of our other room mates are already here to. Aisha went out and Musa’s in her room.”

“Good to know,” Tecna handed the plant over to Flora. “Do we have assigned rooms or…?”

“I mean, technically, but who cares?” Flora joked.

Bloom scanned the room, noticing her name on a door, along with Flora’s. Tecna must have found hers as well as the girl walked into one of the rooms.

“I guess we’re roommates.” Bloom commented.

Flora looked over at the sign as well and smiled. “I guess we are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to make it clear that while Flora is once again Hispanic coded, she's also plus sized, like Terra was, cause I liked the different body type rep. Sorry if the description sounds awkward thrown in there.  
> Tecna's there! And we have the switch from the original show!


	3. Silva

Silva paced the training ground as he watched his students train. Sky seemed on edge, but that was nothing new on the first day of school when he had to slip back into the role of Brandon.

He knew the prince hated having to lie to everyone, and it made it hard for him to form actual connections with his classmates. Silva almost regretted agreeing with Sky’s mother on the plan, but neither of them want to risk Sky when they’ve already lost Andreas.

“Sky!” He called, and watched Sky twitch in response before refocusing on his battle.

It’s Brandon that comes trotting over. “Yes, Silva?”

Silva nodded towards Sky, “How’s he doing?” 

Brandon glanced over and his shoulders sag. “He’s… handling it. You know he hates the act.”

Silva sighed. “I figured.”

They’re quiet for a moment before Brandon mutters, “I just wish he wouldn’t hate me for it.”

Silva winced. It was true, perhaps Sky doesn’t hate Brandon, exactly, but the two had been drifting apart ever since the year prior when they first took on each other’s names. They had been close as children, and since starting school Sky could hardly be in a room with Brandon.

Silva placed a hand on the brunet’s shoulder. “I know, son, but it’s for the best.”

“I know,” Brandon nodded, trying to smile. “Can I get back to training? You have first years to handle.” 

Silva chuckled, “Don’t remind me.” 

Silva watched his son return to the others before making his way over to the freshmen. 

“Welcome, gentlemen, ladies, to the Red Fountain training program. I am here, to make you into warriors for the defence of our realms: Solaria, Andros, Eraklyon, Melody, Zenith, and Linphea. We are their first line of defense, and-”

A freshman broke into laughter, and Silva turned his attention to him. There is always one - last year it had been Riven.

“Is this funny to you?”

The boy tried to stifle his laughter, failing miserably. “Sorry, it’s just… you’re talking like there’s a war. What is there to defend?”

Silva nodded. “You bring up a fair point. Do you know what the barrier is for?”

The boy glanced around, like he doesn’t know how that connects to the discussion. “It keeps out Burned Ones. But none have been spotted since before most of us were able to walk.”

“And you’re lucky for that.” Silva replied. “I could tell you about the first time I saw one, when my father died,but I’ll spare you the details. If you never have to face a Burned One, that is a gift, one that I helped insure. But who’s to say magic won’t do something like that again? Who’s to say we won’t receive… buried ones or drowned ones or some other variation in return. So we prepare for the worst, while hoping it never comes. That is why we train.”

The freshmen look down, clearly uncomfortable from the direction the conversation has taken.

Riven, running by, clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry kid, he gives that speech very year. Nothing’s happened yet, now has it Silva?” 

“Back to training, Riven,” He reprimanded.

The teen shot him a smirk before leaving, most definitely not heading towards the training grounds.

Silva rolled his eyes, and then returned his focus to the freshman trouble maker of the year. “What’s your name?”

“Dane, sir.”

Silva nodded and then addresses the group once more. “Let’s start with some drills!”

~~~

It’s later, when he’s sent the Specialists off to eat, that Farah approaches him, Harvey by her side and expression grave.

“What is it?” He asked.

“A dead body has been discovered outside the barrier.”

Silva blinked. “A wild animal?”

“Perhaps,” Harvey interjected. “We’re going to investigate, and we’d feel far safer with you around.”

Silva nodded, and the three made their way through the barrier, a tingling sensation rippling through their bodies as they cross.

“Never going to get used to that,” Silva joked, as the only non-magical one there.

The body is mangled and bloody when they find it, near what Brandon had reported as Riven’s favorite smoking spot - Silva never wanted to know how his son knew that.

Wile Harvey investigated, Farah and he ran through the various precautions they could take if it was a wild animal. The barrier kept out Burned Ones, not wild animals.

“Guys,” Harvey’s voice was shaking. “This wasn’t an animal.”

He looked over at them, eyes fearful. “It’s a Burned One.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, the whole Brandon-Sky thing might be confusing so I'll clarify: if the chapter is titled Silva, Brandon, or Sky Brandon and Sky are addressed by their actual names, unless they're talking around other people. If it's anyone else, Sky is Brandon and Brandon is Sky.  
> I gave Brandon a dad because we never meet his parents!  
> There is a reason only 6 realms are listed when there are 7 by the way.  
> This chapter was just some stuff from the show, with Brandon added, but I hope you enjoyed!


	4. Flora

Flora didn’t know what she’d expected her first day of real school at Alfea to be like, but it certainly wasn’t how it turned out.

Her father and brother had helped her move into the dorm first thing in the morning, and one of her roommates had shown up an hour after Sam went to his room and her dad went back to work.

Aisha had seemed nice, if a bit distracted at the time. When Flora had told her she’d grown up at the school Aisha had perked up and she asked if there was anywhere to swim. Flora brushed it off as the girl being from Andros, a mostly water based realm, but as soon as the other had been told about the Specialists’ lake she’d disappeared.

Musa had arrived next, headphones on. She hadn’t talked to Flora much, and Flora could respect that. Nerves usually ran high on the first day, she knew, mind fairies had a hard time with it, and Flora had done her research on her roommates. Which is to say she’d whittled at Aunt Farah’s nerves until the elder finally relented to tell her what she could.

Still, Flora had been dejected that neither of the two roommates she’d met were willing to talk. She’d grown up seeing the bonds between all the students, and since there weren’t any kids her age aside from Sam, and occasionally Sky and Brandon, who were all a year older and boys, she’d only had the school years to look forward to.

And then she’d flubbed it up by being her clumsy self with Tecna, who’d barely glanced at her after catching the wild plant Flora had made. At least the pink haired girl wanted to talk to her later.

Bloom was nice, Flora thought. They’d talked for a while after the initial introduction and Flora remembered Farah mentioning the other was from the First World and offered her advice and told stories about previous classes and the magic shenanigans. 

After awhile, Musa had emerged from her room, followed by Tecna. “Do you guys want to grab food with us?” Musa offered. Her long, glossy black hair was tied up in pig tails and her headphones hung around her neck.

“Sure,” Flora jumped at the opportunity to bond.

Musa offered her a small smile. “Cool. How about you?”

Bloom shrugged, “Sure.”

The group made their way down to the dining hall.

“I’m just saying,” Tecna ranted, “Magic is great and all, but we can’t rely on it. Imagine the possibilities we could achieve if we combined First World technology with Other World magic!”

Musa laughed, “Okay Tecna. Can you… calm down a bit?”

Tecna pauses. “Yeah, sorry. I get passionate.”

Musa waved a hand in denial. “Oh, no! I love that, you’re great it just… gets loud? And… the cafeteria is plenty loud itself.”

Flora’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean loud?”

Musa rubbed her arm self consciously. “My magic is… mutated? I guess? Instead of… feeling emotions or reading minds I can… hear people’s auras? It’s like getting a read on their emotions through music.”

Flora saw Tecna’s eyes light up, but a quick nudge to her side and a pointed look seemed to get her to realize Musa was uncomfortable with the subject.

Musa paused in the door way to the cafeteria and tilted her head. “Something’s going on. People are… anxious.” She reached out to a boy passing them. “Hey, what’s going on?”

The boy glanced around before mock whispering, “There’s been an attack. It was a Burned One.”

Flora’s eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. 

“Are you sure?” She asked. If the Burned Ones were back…

“Positive.” 

Musa let go of the boy and he scampered off. “Are you ok?” She asked Flora, concerned. 

Flora cleared her throat. “Yeah, sorry. Let’s get food.” 

She shouldn’t worry. Farah and Silva would handle it. Flora didn’t need to worry about her dad or Sam, it would be fine.

“Bloom, why don’t you tell us about the First World?” Tecna changed the topic.

Bloom glanced between them all, visibly confused. They’d need to tell her about the Burned Ones later, Flora realized, and she wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Sure, I’ll tell you about the time my parents took me skiing. Let me tell you: disastrous.” Bloom talked as they grabbed food and a table.

“Hey, Flora. These the rest of our roommates?” Aisha appeared, sliding into a seat next to Tecna.

Flora nodded. “Well, we’re missing one, but mostly.”

“Stella went to talk to Headmistress Dowling,” Bloom answered.

Flora choked on the apple she was eating. “S-Stella as in  _ Princess _ Stella?”

Musa glanced at Flora and Aisha, and Flora wondered what emotion Aisha was giving off to garner a glance.

“Um, yeah? Why?” Bloom asked.

“It’s just… she’s a second year,” Flora started nervously. “And… well, last year didn’t go great where she was involved.”

“What happened?” Musa asked, leaning forward.

Flora hesitated. She didn’t want to be the reason any of their roommates started to hate Stella, she didn’t even know if she should believe what she’d heard. “Well, I’m not sure if it’s true but… apparently last year she blinded her best friend. On purpose.”

“What, why?” Aisha asked in shock.

“But she seemed so nice,” Bloom denied.

Flora shrugged sheepishly. “I don’t know, like I said, I don’t know if it’s true. No one has outright said they were there when it happened and she didn’t get expelled.”

“So, is she repeating a year? Is that why she’s our roommate?” Tecna asked.

“Probably.”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

“Ugh,” Stella flops into a chair. “Why is it the first day and I’m already exhausted?” Noticing them all staring at her she looked around. “What? Do I have something on my dress?”

“Did you really blind your best friend?” Tecna bluntly asked.

Stella tensed, remaining quiet.

“Let’s talk about something else.” Musa interrupted before an interrogation could begin, and Flora sagged in relief.

“So, Bloom, did you find anything out about your bloodline before coming here?” Stella asked.

Bloom shook her head. “No, my mom is completely normal, the most interesting thing about her family history is that her great-great-great-great grandfather was a president. And my dad hasn’t spoken to his family since he married my mom.”

“Why?” Aisha asked. “I… can’t imagine families would just cut contact like that.”

“They weren’t supportive,” Bloom explained, “They really wanted a granddaughter and my mom had low fertility. They tried for years, before they had me. I’m a miracle baby; had a heart defect in the wound but once I was born it turned out okay.”

Flora paused, a thought coming to mind. Looking at the others she noticed they thought the same. “You guys don’t think…?”

Bloom’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Think what?”

“Bloom,” Tecna spoke cautiously, realizing this was rocky territory. “I think… you might be a changeling.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I wrote Flora very well this chapter, but I tried. I'm gonna watch a few episodes of the og show to get a feel for their characters again before I continue.  
> Also, you can't tell me that Flora/Terra and Sam don't think of Farah and Silva as an aunt/uncle in the show. Those two probably helped Harvey raise them. Same goes for Sky.  
> Not much new this chapter, other than Bloom finding out about things a bit differently.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	5. Bloom

Bloom sat in her bed long into the night, staring at her hands. Flora slept in the bed across the room, and as much as Bloom wanted to escape her thoughts, they wouldn’t allow it.

She couldn’t move past what her roommates had told her earlier. After Tecna had dropped the bombshell, the others had went on to tentatively explain what that meant. All Bloom cared about was the fact that it meant she wasn’t really the daughter of her parents. Her whole life had been a lie.

Bloom’s emotions bubbled inside her and she could feel her blood begin to boil.

She got up and went over to shake Flora awake. 

“What is it?” The other girl asked sleepily.

“I need to let off some steam. Do you know somewhere no one will see me?” Bloom asked.

Flora sat up, rubbing blearily at her eyes. “Not in the barrier. The Specialist forces patrol it at night.”

“Okay, well what about beyond it?” Bloom pushed.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Flora said carefully.

“Flora, if I don’t do something I’m going to burn down our room.” Bloom informed her. “Come on.” Bloom pushed herself away from her roommate’s bed and toward the door to the common room, where she found Musa, Tecna and Stella. “What are you guys doing up?”

“Your emotions are basically a symphony right now,” Musa explained with a shrug. “I’m not getting any sleep until we calm you down.”

“Musa woke me,” Tecna added.

“And they woke me,” Stella finished.

Bloom winced. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Stella reassured, “Let’s just get you taken care of. WHat do you need?”

“I need to light something on fire, could you guys come with me past the barrier?” Bloom requested.

Musa shrugged, “Sure,”

Tecna hesitated. “Is that a good idea? What if the Burned One…”

Stella waved the concern off. “Oh please, you’d be surprised what kind of gossip students come up with. Last year, a girl swore up and down that a dragon had nested in the attic of the Specialist dorms. And then there’s me, but that’s not important.”

Flora finally came out of the room. “Stella, there was a dragon nesting in the Specialist dorms, its eggs hatched over the summer. The Specialists are training them.”

“Details. The point is, I doubt there’s a Burned One.” 

“Alright,” Tecna allowed, “let’s go then.”

A throat was cleared and they all looked over to see Aisha, hands on her hips. They paused, wondering if she would stop them, before a grin formed on Aisha’s face. “You’re not going anywhere without me. I can cut off Bloom’s fire if she loses control.”

They breathed a sigh of relief.

“Come on then,” Musa urged, “Let’s get going. We have class tomorrow and I want to get  _ some _ sleep.”

~~~

The clearing they chose was barren of grass, mostly dirt and rocks. Flora claimed it was the make shift training area for the dragons since they couldn’t risk training in the barrier due to the fire.

“Just let lose,” Stella instructed. “Whatever you want to channel, channel, and let it light your fire.” She paused, “But to be clear, don’t make this a habit. Negatively fueled magic is fickle, harder to control - you want control.”

Bloom nodded, “I know, thanks Stella.”

The blonde nodded, and backed off, joining the rest to sit and watch Bloom.

Bloom closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting her emotions rush through her and towards her hands. Fire flickered to life in her palms and Bloom sent a blast around her, the fire had nothing to light in the dirt and stone clearing and flickered out when it left her fingertips.

Bloom cast wave after wave of flames around her, conscious of the girls nearby. 

When she was done, she let out a heavy breath, heart feeling more at peace.

“Alright,” She muttered. “Alright, I’m good, guys I’m-”

**_Bloom_ **

Bloom froze, a voice seeming to echo around her. She looked around, gaze moving over her roommates who had stood in preparation to leave at her words.

**_Bloom_ **

Where was that coming from?

“Bloom?”

**_Bloom_ **

There. Bloom started in the opposite way from the school, from the barrier. The voice was coming from that way.

Ignoring the calls of her roommates, Bloom started walking toward it, scanning for where it came from.

A figure, dark among the trees made itself known.

“Hello?” Bloom called.

The figure remained still, swaying slightly before suddenly darting forward, racing towards her.

Bloom shrieked as she made out it’s features, charred skin, face unseeable, with clawed fingers that reached out to her. Bloom fell and scrambled back, panicking.

“Solaria!” Stella shouted from behind Bloom, and Bloom noticed a flash of light from behind her.

Then Stella was in front of her, wielding a staff that glowed pale silver in the dark night. It was topped with an intricate circlet with molten metal floating in the center surrounding a yellow gem.

“Close your eyes,” Stella commanded, before raising the staff. Bloom did as instructed, a red glow making its way past her eyelids as light illuminated the clearing.

The thing let out a loud, shrill cry. And Bloom felt a hand incircle her arm and pull her up and away, back towards the barrier.

“Come on!” Aisha called, “We need to run!”

Bloom opened her eyes and began assisting in their escape, pushing away her feelings of panic for a moment. “What is that thing?” She questioned as they ran.

“A Burned One!” Flora informed her. “Those things we were telling you about earlier!”

If Bloom had known they were  _ that _ she never would have insisted they come out with her. “I’m so sorry!”

“Not your fault!” Aisha reprimanded, “We agreed.”

Stella turned and cast another light spell in the direction of the monster chasing them. “I can try and fight it while you guys escape,” She told them slowing to a stop.

“No way, that thing will turn you!” Musa denied.

Bloom grabbed a hold of Stella’s arm as she passed the girl and tried to pull her along. It worked, but the sudden jolt of movement caused Stella to lose her grip on the staff and drop it as they took of once more.

Bloom watched while she ran as it shrank back into a ring she’d noticed on Stella’s finger and the Burned One stopped momentarily to pick it up and place it in it’s side.

“No, no, No! I can’t leave that! My mom will murder me!”

“A staff is more important than your life!” Tecna argued. “Your mom will understand!”

Stella didn’t say anything more.

“Which way?” Musa called back from where she and Aisha were leading them.

“Right!” Flora ordered.

Tecna looked over her shoulder, sending a wave of electricity from her fingertips towards the beast.

It convulsed before dropping to the ground, and they slowed to a stop, eyeing it carefully.

“Is it… dead?” Bloom wondered.

The Burned One twitched, and they all took a step back, before a white light enveloped the Burned One and it stilled.

“No, just incapacitated”

They turned to find a slim woman with graying hair pulled up in a tight knot.

“Aunt Farah.”

“Headmistress Dowling.”

Stella and Flora spoke at the same time.

Headmistress Dowling’s mouth pulled into a taut smile. “Girls, what are you doing out so late?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to make a note about this in the last chapter: but I changed Musa's power a bit from the live action because I missed the sound aspect of her power, instead of it just being a way to block people out. And Tecna's a sky fairy!  
> Bloom is hearing things, the Staff-ring returns and Bloom meets Headmistress Dowling!  
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	6. Beatrix

Beatrix arrived at the school relatively early, her orders from her father being clear as he drops her off just beyond the barrier. 

Her first order of business is to find Headmistress Dowling and begin ingratiating herself to the woman, however painful the process would be when she was fully aware of the woman’s misgivings. 

She flicked her dark hair away from her face as she passed Headmistress’s secretary, giving him a knowing look.

The man looks up. “Hey, you can’t go in there.”

“I’m good, thank you,” Beatrix cheekily replied, knocking on the door to Dowling’s office repeatedly.

“The headmistress is extremely busy right now-” the man cut himself off when the door opened, revealing the woman herself.

“Can I help you?” Headmistress Dowling asked.

“Headmistress Dowling,” Beatrix does her best to omit as much awe as she can in her voice. “It is an honor to meet you. I’ve waited my whole life for this, to meet you. Alfea’s history is so interesting and I… can’t wait to uncover it.”

Headmistress Dowling offers a nod, clearly wondering exactly what that had to do with her her. “Noted. Perhaps you should start in the library. Or in your dormitory. I’m afraid I have work to get to,” The woman smiled kindly and stepped past Beatrix, closing the door behind her and leaving.

Beatrix watched her leave, scowling slightly and glanced at the door. She could use now as an opportunity to investigate, but that would be too obvious if Dowling realized anything is amiss when she gets back.

Beatrix chose to retreat for the moment.

~~~

Lunch is an interesting indevour, Beatrix found, when a specialist came in swearing up a storm and claiming that a Burned One had been spotted.

Beatrix paused for a moment, before regaining her act of normality. Her father had said they were all dead, but perhaps without the true hero around they were making a return.

Beatrix finished grabbing her food and went to sit next to the specialist. “Hi, I’m Beatrix. Could you tell me about this Burned One?”

The Specialist watched her for a moment eyes narrowed, “Why would I tell you?”

Beatrix offered a closed lipped smile. “I’m just… interested. The Burned Ones have always fascinated me. What with their power to turn people and involvement in Alfean history”

The Specialist raised an eyebrow. “What, so you’re some kind of fucked up history nerd?”

Beatrix tilted her head, “That’s one way of putting it.”

The boy looked at her for a moment longer before smirking. “Alright, I’ll bite. The name’s Riven.”

~~~

Beatrix was searching the halls of the school later that night, just incase what she’s looking for isn’t in Dowling’s office, when the sound of footsteps approaching warned her and she slipped behind a column.

“You captured it?” A voice she recognized as Silva, the traitor, asked.

“Yes,” that was Dowling, “It’s in the barn, Harvey made zanbaq to help keep it subdued.”

“Farah,” Silva’s voice was reprimanding, “We should kill it.”

“I need to get in it’s head,” Farah argued. “We need to know if this is an isolated incident or not. For our students sakes.”

“And why would this be anything more?”

Dowling paused before admitting, “I found a changeling in the First World, left sixteen years ago.”

They continued talking as they walked by, oblivious to the girl watching from the shadows.

“A changeling?” She wondered to herself. “Interesting.”

She smirked, turning to leave the school. It seemed she had a stop to make before heading to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during the same day as the earlier chapters.  
> Look, as iconic as the Trix were and as much as I miss them, Beatrix fits the role needed better, and I feel like she's kind of a good mix of them: Icy's personality, Darcy's appearance and Stormy's powers.  
> Again, mostly just stuff from the show I needed to cover for the plot, but I hope you enjoyed!


	7. Brandon

Brandon woke up to the sound of incessant knocking on his door and groaned. Whatever time it was, it was too early for his day to start.

Dragging himself over to the door he opened it. “Riven, I swear, if you’re drunk again-”

“Sky!”

Brandon quickly found himself with an arm full of his girlfriend and he blinked, readjusting himself to remember,  _ right, I’m Sky right now. _

“Stella,” He returned the hug, arms coming up to brace against her back. She was shaking and his brows furrowed. “Stella, what’s wrong?”

She pulled away, eyes panicked and welling with tears. “I lost my staff.”

“What?” He quickly pulled her into the room. “Stella what happened? I’ll help, whatever it is.”

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down and Brandon rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. This wasn’t the first time Stella had come to him in tears, and it broke his heart every time. He remembered when she first told him about her mother, halfway through their first year.

He’d never wanted to commit treason as much as he had then. He knew that even if Stella told her father, King Radius, about the treatment she faced from her mother, it wouldn’t do much. Solaria was traditionally a matriarch and the King held little power unless the Queen passed away or was imprisoned herself.

“Me and my roommates… we went passed the barrier last night,” Stella admitted. “And a Burned One attacked us. I… It took my staff, Sky. I don’t know what to do.”

Brandon pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay, Stella. We’ll get it back.”

“How? Headmistress Dowling captured it, but I can’t tell her. She reports directly to my mother and if she finds out…” Stella trailed off.

If she finds out it would lead to yet another personal lesson.

“Have you told your roommates?” He asked, “I’m sure they’d-”

“I told them she would kill me for losing it. They… didn’t really take it seriously.” Stella admitted.

“Okay,” Brandon thought for a moment. “Okay, there’s… two places they could be keeping it since it has to be beyond the barrier. Flora would know where, probably.”

Stella’s brows furrowed. “Should we really get them involved? It’s my problem, and I already feel bad enough dragging you into it.”

Brandon shook his head. “You know I’ll always help. And, they’re your roommates, Stella. They need to know at least the basics.”

Her shoulders sagged. “Okay.”

Sky entered from his room down the hall. “Could you guys keep it down? I’m trying to sleep.”

“Sorry, Brandon,” Brandon forced himself to say his own name. It was still weird, even after a year of practicing it.

Sky nodded, lips thin and then left.

Stella glanced between them. “Is everything okay? He seemed upset.”

“Yeah,” Brandon lied. “He’s fine. We’re fine.” Definitely not being torn apart by pretending to be each other.

~~~

It was uncomfortable being in the same room as Flora or Sam.

Flora and Sam who he’d grown up with as the only children in Alfea but now knew him as Sky. That had felt like the hardest thing to swallow when the whole charade began. 

His dad hadn’t even told him and Sky that Aunt Farah had tampered with her own, as well as Uncle Harvey, Flora, and Sam’s memories so Sky and Brandon switched places.

Neither of them had talked to him until he admitted he hadn’t known about it either and the Queen had gone behind his back to talk to Aunt Farah.

So it was awkward being in the same room as her, technically they still grew up together, but she thought of him as someone else.

“The barn, probably.” Flora said when Brandon told her his thoughts on where the Burned One might be being kept.

“I just don’t get why we’re doing this,” Tecna spoke up from where she sat. “We could just tell Headmistress Dowling and she’d get Stella’s ring.”

Brandon glanced at her, wondering how much she wanted to disclose.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said my mom would kill me. And Miss Dowling reports directly to her.” Stella admitted. “Please, girls, I can’t let her find out.”

“Well, it’s my fault,” Bloom replied. “I’ll help.”

“Are we sure you should go near that thing?” Musa asked, skeptically. “Your aura got really… weird the other night. What happened?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll tell you when I figure it out.” 

Brandon glanced between them, but figured it was better not to ask.

“I’m not so sure,” Aisha reluctantly piped up. “But if you guys want to, go for it. It’s not dangerous right now according to Miss Dowling. Some of us can stay behind in case someone notices your gone.”

“I’ll go,” Musa volunteered. “I should be able to get a feel for if its dangerous or not.”

“I know how to get to the barn,” Flora pointed out.

“Alright, so you four will go, and Me and Aisha will cover for you.” Tecna decided.

Brandon watched a smile form on Stella’s face. “Thank you guys.”

He was glad she had friends who would look out for her now, instead of just him. Queen Luna could not be trusted with her daughter, and he’d feel better knowing other people had her back.

“Alright, I’ll contact you guys when Silva, Dowling and Harvey are distracted.” Brandon told the girls, “I have to get to training.”

Stella reached out and grabbed him by his shirt, pulling him down for a kiss. “Have a good day.”

He smiled. “You too, babe.”

Brandon chuckled as the girls began teasing Stella as he left.

~~~

Brandon looked around the training grounds.

“Hey,” he called out to Sky.

The other looked at him, before returning to slashing at his dummy. “What?”

“Have you seen Silva?”

“Dad, left awhile ago.” Sky casually replied.

Brandon winced. Another thing that would never stop being weird. 

He could never call Silva his dad, and yet Sky could. He tried not to let it hurt, Silva had raised them both, after all, and Sky could call him whatever he wanted. It just hurt that Brandon couldn’t, because he was the one with royal appearances to uphold, not the real prince.

And Sky hated calling Silva his dad, even if he’d admitted that Silva was more of a father figure to him than the ghost of Andreas. He felt it was a betrayal.

“Where to?” Brandon questioned.

“I heard he was transporting a Burned One they captured,” Timmy, another second year specialist, commented as he passed them.

Brandon froze and quickly pulled out his phone.

He had to tell the girls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I hated having to have made Miss Dowling do that, but there had to be a reason for Flora to grow up with Brandon and Sky but not know about the switch, because she would tell Stella and Bloom otherwise. At least I could absolve Silva of the blame. But I guess all the queen's just suck lol (I won't do Aisha's mom like that, don't worry.)  
> I also wish the original show had addressed the affects the switch had on not only Sky and Brandon's relationship with each other but other people as well, so that's something I'll explore in this.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	8. Musa

Musa was used to the constant hum of music, loud and distinct or soft and indecisive. It was a connection to the world and people around her that she used to revel in; now she did her best to block it out as much as possible with the kind of music she could rely on, could predict.

Living with roommates had already began to challenge that goal, from the hesitant strumming Bloom’s aura would release when her parents and powers were mentioned, to Aisha’s almost calculated sounding beat and Stella’s flurried chords of panic. Tecna and Flora were the calmest of all of them, and for that reason Musa found herself sticking close to them when class began.

The first year fairy class had assembled in the main lawn shortly after breakfast had ended, students talking in excited tones and music thrumming around the area in jittery anticipation.

Headmistress Dowling had arrived not long after, and Musa watched her carefully, trying to gauge how she handled the constant input of her surroundings. One of the reasons Musa had let her father convince her to attend Alfea was because of the lead teacher of the Fairy courses being a mind fairy.

The woman appeared unaffected, her aura playing a soft sonata. She had to have some sort of blockage on her powers.

She had lead the students through the courtyard and Specialist training grounds, guiding them through a hedge maze. Once through, they had finally arrived at a clearing, lined by stone henge.

In the center, stood a rock slab, upon which Headmistress Dowling placed the Vessel, a large, slightly curved bowl filled with crystals mined from Zenith with the ability of amplifying magic.

Dowling gestured for them to take a seat.

“Now then,” Headmistress Dowling began. “Who can tell me the basic elements of magic?”

A hand quickly shot up.

“Yes, Beatrix.”

The girl lowered her hand, a pleasant smile plastered on her face. Musa narrowed her eyes. There was something… off about her aura and music, but Musa couldn’t pinpoint what.

“The basic elements of magic, are fire, water, air, earth and mind.” Beatrix explained, “Every fairy is born with the natural ability to control one element, though they can learn others.”

“Thank you,” Headmistress Dowling raised a hand to gently cut the girl off. “That was all we needed, Beatrix. Now, I’m sure you all are aware of your natural born element, today we will practice harnessing them in a controlled form with the help of the Vessel, before moving onto advancing them. Magic is linked strongly to emotions, the more positive they are the better control you will hold, remember that.” Her eyes scanned the huddle of students on the ground. “Do we have any volunteers?”

Musa watched as first an air magic fairy stepped up the vessel, his aura buzzing as he created a whirling ball of wind within the confines of the Vessel. Next, Aisha stepped up, and Musa tilted her head as the measured beats of her aura were interrupted by the hesitant ringing of a cymbal. She was nervous.

Aisha took a calming breathe, gazing intently at the Vessel as she moved her hands to lift water from a nearby conduit bowl that had been placed out. The water stuttered for a moment, resisting the pull of Aisha’s magic before flowing at her control.

The cymbal disappeared.

Aisha returned to her seat on the ground and the next student began their demonstration.

“Musa,” Headmistress Dowling called, and Musa looked over to the woman from where she’d been watching Tecna dance electricity with her fingertips. “Why don’t you go up next.”

Musa hesitated for a moment, before standing. She didn’t think she had much of a choice in the matter seeing as she’d been directly asked.

Musa stared into the vessel, inspecting the multicolored crystals layering the bottom instead of attempting anything. She’d never tried to use her magic directly before, simply dealing with the input. What could she even do?

“You’re a mind fairy, correct?” Headmistress Dowling prompted, and upon Musa’s nod she instructed, “Attempt to draw something from me using your link.”

Musa bit her lip and took a deep breathe. She had to at least give it a try.

Closing her eyes, Musa tried to block out the sound from the other people surrounding her, focusing on Headmistress Dowling and tried to coax the tune of her Aura into tangible existence.

A murmur began and Musa’s concentration broke. She opened her eyes to see the faint remains of violet magic dissipate.

“Music?” Dowling’s eyebrow was quirked, though her tone was not judgemental and her aura remained the same soothing melody.

Musa shrugged. “It’s just… how it presents itself.”

Headmistress Dowling nodded. “Very well.”

Musa returned to her seat, relieved to no longer hold everyone’s attention.

“What about Princess Stella?” Beatrix suddenly spoke up. “I mean, we all know she doesn’t have one of the basic elements.”

There was a stall in Stella’s aura before she regained her composure and straightened her posture.

Headmistress Dowling nodded gently. “A fair question. As most of you are aware, Stella is the Princess of Solaria, and each royal family holds special magic in their bloodline, which only they can control. The magic of the Solarian bloodline, is light. Stella, would you mind a demonstration?”

Dowling’s tone was not an order but an open invitation.

Stella smiled broadly, though Musa didn’t even need to hear her aura to be able to see the fakeness of it. “Of course Headmistress,” She replied. She stood quickly and confidently walked over trying to display a haughty air.

Musa would have snorted at the difference between Stella now and earlier in the morning when she’d looked softened in the morning glow and absolutely love sick with Sky. But she could tell there was something serious behind the change, perhaps the rumors Flora had told them about.

Stella stepped up to the vessel and reached toward the sky, light beams reflecting off her hands into fragmented rainbow. Stella quickly dispelled it, returning her hands to her sides and fisting the folds of her skirts, like she was scared to hold the spell too long.

Headmistress Dowling nodded in approval and then clapped her hands. “Alright, that is all for today class.”

The students rose, noticing the dismissal and Musa and Tecna moved to Join Bloom, Flora and Aisha to watched Headmistress Dowling bring Stella aside.

“I wasn’t the only one to notice how uncomfortable she was, right?” Bloom questioned.

“Definitely not,” Aisha agreed.

“Maybe it’s about last year,” Flora added. “We shouldn’t pressure her about it, though. I’m sure she’ll talk to us when she’s ready.”

Tecna nodded. “Yes, it is my understanding that most people don’t enjoy being questioned on topics they wish to avoid.” Musa glanced at her and wondered how many times someone had exploded at her interrogating questions before she decided it was best to leave certain things be.

Unexpectedly, Musa stumbled, as someone ran into her. Musa turned, to find the second years trickling into the ring and a boy with the most soothing aura Musa had ever heard standing just past her.

Any scathing remark she’d had died on her lips.

“Sorry,” he apologized before continuing to the ring. Musa watched him leave before her gaze was drawn away by someone shaking her shoulder.

“Musa?” Aisha questioned.

“What?” 

“We were going to go grab lunch,” Flora explained. “Do you want to join? Tecna and Bloom are going to the library to study.” 

“Um, sure,” Musa distractedly answered, letting them drag her away as she glanced back, spotting the boy once more as he watched the headmistress’s lecture.

She wondered who he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't post last week, school was busy and then some personal things came up, but hopefully I'll be able to post more now.  
> It was fun writing a bit of music into this chapter. And for some reason I'm imagining Farah's aura sounding like Clair De Lune,  
> Listen, Sam and Musa are my OTP on the show and I have to include them, okay? I never was the biggest Riven x Musa fan, not to say I didn't like them, they just weren't at the top of my relationship list.  
> We're getting some subtly hints at other character backstories mwahaha.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	9. Riven

The second day of the school year was always an interesting experience. On the first, the newbies were given a tour and started training by themselves. The upperclassmen took level testing to see what rank they would be put in and also to provide background and information for Silva to form Specialist Teams, which would be made available at the end of the first week.

The second day was when the students converged and the first years were either schooled or taken under an upperclassman’s wing.

Riven arrived at the training ground late, having slept in and his roommate not having bothered to wake him after learning the last year how much of a bother it was. 

He sauntered over to Brandon. The blond was standing at the edge of one of the platforms to watch Kenzie, a fellow second year, fight the first year Riven had seen initiate Silva’s “The Speech of Duty” - as the Specialist students had dubbed it.

“‘Sup, man?” Riven asked. “How was summer with the teach and Prince?”

Brandon glanced at him, small smirk coming to his lips as he brought a hand to cuff Riven over the head. “Fine, I guess. Training filled, but that’s nothing new. How was a summer of slacking off? I see it’s transitioning over well.”

Riven snorted. “Oh, come off it. I’m just as good as you.”

Brandon hummed. “I seem to recall last year you needed some help.”

“Oh, well thank you, oh powerful son of our teacher, for taking little ol’ me under your wing.” Riven taunted.

Brandon sighed, shaking his head in fond exasperation, and turned his gaze back to the fight just as Kenzie ended the fight with a judo flip.

The first year groaned, rolling to the side and bracing himself to get up.

“Brandon!” Riven turned to see Silva signaling for the blond to come over. “Help me demonstrate a technique!”

Brandon nodded, before turning to Riven. “Try to go easy on the first years.” He ordered before heading over.

Riven huffed, before turning his attention back to the specialist Kenzie had just defeated. She’d finished giving her tips to the boy and had moved on to sparring with another second year, Timmy.

Riven approached the boy.

“Hey there, trouble kid.” He greeted, taking a seat next to the boy.

He looked over at Riven before looking away again and taking a drink from his water bottle. “Not trouble.”

Riven snorted, “Sure. But you did cause Silva’s whole speech yesterday.”

“I thought you said he did it every year.”

Riven nodded, “Oh, yeah, he does. Rather pointless, I think. The Burned Ones aren’t likely to be replicated, seeing how they were made.”

“But they are back,” the younger pointed out. “Everyone says they caught one last night.”

Riven thinks back to the body he’d found the other day. “Fair enough. Still, it was probably nothing.” He gave the boy a one over he was nothing special by Specialist standards, well toned muscles but still lean and capable of moving quickly. “What’s your name, freshman?”

The boy paused, seeming to analyze him in return. “Dane.”

“Well, Dane, you’re in luck. Because I am one of the best Specialists here, and I’m in a good mood.” He looked at the ring where Kenzie had just finished her fight and signalled for her to wait a moment. 

“You lost with Kenzie because you weren’t thinking enough.” Admittedly, Riven had only seen the last minute of the fight, but the issue had been clear enough. “You need to think quickly in battle, be careful about your movements, even if you think you see an opening it could always be a trap. Watch and learn.”

Riven pushed himself up and entered the ring.

He and Kenzie circled each other for a moment, both sizing each other up and waiting for the other to make the first move. Finally, Kenzie lost her patience and darted forward aiming for a sweep kick to end the fight quickly, but Riven jumped over her legs and grabbed her arm, which she’d held out to catch herself when her momentum worked against her.

Yanking her up he twisted her arm behind her back. Kenzie grunted at the slight strain, and stepped on his foot. Riven hissed, not anticipating the move - they didn’t normally fight dirty, but what worked worked. He released her and they backed away from each other for another minute to recover as their aches died down.

Riven’s foot stopped hurting first and he took the moment to catch Kenzie off guard and rushed at her. Kenzie reacted instantaneously grabbing Riven and bending her back to use his momentum to send him over her.

Riven caught himself though and twisted to roll across her back and land on his feet. He brought her back up in a choke hold. Kenzie twisted, attempting to get out, but Riven tightened his grip until she tapped his elbow, signalling her surrender.

He released her immediately and Kenzie took in a deep breath before turning to shake his hand.

“Good job,” She praised. “Maybe you didn’t slack off this summer.”

Riven smirked. “Should’ve known better than to count me out just cause we had a break from Silva’s regiment.” 

Riven exited the ring, ignoring Kenzie’s confused call about the winner being the one to keep fighting, and joined Dane once more.

“What did you notice?” He quizzed the other.

Dane was silent for a second. “You faked her out with that charge, and used it to attack her from behind. And neither of you were above some dirty tricks.”

Riven nodded. “Exactly, it’s not all about strength, or even skill. It’s about strategy.” He ruffled the younger’s short hair. “Stick with me, and you’ll learn a hell of a lot more.”

Dane narrowed his eyes. “Uhuh. I hear you aren’t exactly the greatest influence.”

Riven grinned crookedly. “Aw, come on, there’s nothing wrong with having some fun and being the best. Silva’s all about the warrior’s life, serving the people, I don’t see why we can’t do that and get a little from ‘em.”

Riven waited as Dane seemed to think it over, though he could tell the other liked what he was putting down.

“Alright, sure.” Dane agreed.

“Awesome.” Riven responded. “Now come on, let’s see if we can find an empty ring and I’ll show you some moves.”

~~~

“Riven.”

Riven looked over as his name was called, wiping some of the remaining sweat off of his forehead with a towel as he exited the training grounds. It was the girl from the other day, her dark hair was tied back in a low ponytail and swung behind her as she approached him.

“Hey, Bea, right?” Riven asked, just to get a rise.

Her red painted lips pulled down in a scowl. “Don’t call me that,” she ordered.

“Right,” He answered drily. “What’s up,  _ Beatrix _ ? I told you everything I knew about the Burned One yesterday.”

“Oh yes, I know that.” She waved off the subject. “I was actually here to talk about another fun activity you could help me with.”

“Oh? And, prey tell, what does your history nerd mind think I’d enjoy with you?” Riven haughtily asked.

“I want to break into Headmistress Dowling’s office tonight. There’s just… so many books in there she probably won’t give the library. She’s going to be out tonight, I found out from her assistant, so it’s the perfect time to investigate.” 

She batted her eyes innocently, and Riven got the feeling there was more to it than that, but she’d had him hooked the minute she’d mentioned the office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fight between Riven and Kenzie probably isn't entirely accurate, but I tried my best.  
> I liked Riven and Sky's friendship in the Fate show cause I felt like it gave Riven's character a bit more depth than just being a bad boy, so I wanted to include it - he's also a bit nicer in this lol.  
> I've also decided that I'm going to be updating this twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays.  
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	10. Aisha

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo, more hints and worldbuilding!  
> With what you've learned in this chapter and the others, it should be relatively easy to piece together what Aisha's so worried about people finding out haha, the question is how long until I actually tell you and the other characters.  
> Bloom was hearing the voice again, just so you know, the next chapter picks up right where this one left off.  
> Hope you enjoyed!

Aisha wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep this up. There had already been so many close calls only two days into the school year, what with Stella, their adventure beyond the barrier and class.

That being said, it was nice to spend time with some of her less likely to notice roommates, except Musa might. Though the other girl seemed to be preoccupied, eyes darting around the cafeteria from time to time, hearing music no one else could.

“What are you looking for?” Aisha finally questioned the other, gaining her attention.

“Oh, nothing,” Musa dismissed, quickly looking down at her food and pushing it around with her fork.

Aisha raised an eyebrow, glancing at their other dormmate who had joined them. Flora was caught up with healing a sickly vine near their table, not paying attention to them.

“You were distracted after class too,” Aisha points out. “Come on, spill.”

Musa glances up, lips twisting in a way that shows she’s considering a retort, but decides against it. “I just… there’s this boy.” 

A grin formed on Aisha’s face despite her best attempts to keep it down. “Do you like someone?” She teased.

Musa pointedly looked away. “No, I don’t even really know him! He just…” she sighed, “It’s hard to explain when you don’t have powers like mine. It’s more of a fascination, maybe it could be more, but not right now.”

Aisha watched as her head lifted slightly and she looked around, eyes landing on someone over Aisha’s shoulder. She turned but saw no one.

“I keep hearing his aura, but when I look he isn’t there.” Musa explained. “It’s weird.”

“He sounds weird,” Aisha agreed and then offered, “I could help you hunt him down.”

Musa looked at her in disbelief. “No! I’m not ‘hunting’ anyone down! If I see him then I see him, if I don’t I don’t, and that’s that.”

She was trying for nonchalance, like she didn’t care, but Aisha could tell that if Musa didn’t actually get to talk to this boy she might combust.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Aisha told her. “The second years had class after us right?”

“Aisha-!” Musa protested, but she’d already stood and begun to make her way over to a second year table.

Only to be stopped by Sky.

“Hey, you’re one of Stella’s roommates, right?” the Brunet questioned, grabbing hold of her arm. He quickly let go when she cast a pointed look at it. “Sorry.”

“Yeah,” Aisha crossed her arms defensively.  _ Don’t recognize me, don’t recognize me, don’t recognize me. _ He hadn’t before, and Aisha had never actually seen him at one of the interrealm balls she’d been to, but there was still a chance. “Why?”

“She’s not answering her phone, and they need to get moving now!” He glanced around quickly before speaking in a hushed voice once more. “Silva’s taking the Burned One to the Solarian prison.”

Aisha blinked. “They should be in the library,” she told him and he nodded in thanks, taking off into the crowd once more, presumably to get the others.

Aisha turned back around to head to Musa and the others.

Musa watched in relief, sinking back down into her seat from where she stood watching Aisha.

“Musa, Flora, you guys are on for Operation Burned One.” Aisha informed, sitting back down.

Flora blinked, looking over. “Right now?”

Aisha nodded, pulling her lips into a tight line. “They’re taking the Burned One.”

“ _ Merde _ ,” Flora cursed, rising. “Sky went to get the others?” 

Aisha nodded.

“Okay,” Flora gestured for Musa to follow. “We’ll meet them out front.”

Musa quickly finished off her food with one last bite before joining Flora, and Aisha watched as they rushed out of the cafeteria. She was alone for all of ten minutes before Tecna arrived, placing herself in the seat next to Aisha and dragging over Flora’s unfinished food to eat herself.

“I guess it’s just us,” Tecna greeted.

“I guess so,” Aisha agreed.

Silence hung over the table for a few minutes, neither sure where to go.

“So, are you really from Zenith?” Aisha finally broke the quiet.

Tecna glanced over at her, shoulders squaring as she answered, “Yes.”

Aisha quickly waved her hands in a panic. “Oh no, it’s just… not many fairies have been travelling out of the Realm what with the whole… magic mess there.”

Tecna nodded in understanding. “Fair enough, that’s actually part of the reason I’m here.” Aisha tilted her head in curiosity, urging the girl to continue. “I mean, there has to be a reason, and therefore there has to be a solution. I mean, it’s happened before, to…” She trails off.

The name Domino goes unsaid. It almost feels taboo.

Everyone has heard tales of the seventh realm, but no one truly speaks of it, despite it only earning it’s moniker, The Barren Realm, a little over a decade and a half ago.

“Well,” Aisha tries to lighten the mood, nudging Tecna with her elbow. “If anyone can figure it out, I’m sure it’s you.”

Tecna offered a small smile. “Thanks.”

The two girls polished off their food quickly, before deciding to head back to their dorms to wait for the others to return from a hopefully successful mission.

It’s on their way back that they manage to find themselves along the same path as Headmistress Dowling. The woman walked at a brisk pace, talking over the phone with someone in an urgent tone.

Aisha quickly stopped Tecna, years of honing her “importance level” radar warning her this was eavesdrop worthy.

“What do you mean you’ve lost communication with them?”

A pause.

“Saul would have made sure to check all equipment to make sure it was in top shape, he wouldn’t have let even one communicator die.”

A pause.

“Alright, I’m going to check on them.”

The two exchanged a brief look before Tecna motioned for them to head the other way.

“We have to warn the others,” the pink haired girl whispered when they were further away and Aisha nodded in agreement.

They took off running for the barn.

~~~

They arrived panting, somehow ahead of their headmistress.

Flora and Musa were stood outside the barn.

“What is it?” Musa questioned after turning to watch them approach.

“Headmistress Dowling is on the way,” Aisha panted out. “We need to hurry it up.”

“Bloom and Stella still haven’t come out.” Flora explained.

“What’s taking them so long?” Tecna wondered joining the other three to face the barn, waiting for their final two roommates to appear.

Aisha hung back, something drawing her attention away from the barn and further back in the woods.

Movement.

“Guys,” She started, looking over at them, but none seemed to notice.

Musa’s attention had been drawn elsewhere, and she slowly began making her way further from both the barn and the movement Aisha had noticed, Flora and Tecna following behind her.

Aisha watched them for a moment, before her gaze darted back to where she saw the movement.

She should probably go with them but… she couldn’t dismiss what she’d seen.

Aisha groaned, resigning herself to separating on her own and began trekking through the forest towards the area.

She paused.

From her current vantage she could see Bloom, making her way towards a Burned One, not seeming to notice the danger she’d just placed herself in. It did not last long though, the red head seeming to come to her senses and beginning to back away, but not before the Burned One began to charge.

Aisha’s breathe caught in her throat, and her arm raised but she hesitated.

There was no way she had enough control over water to make a lance or javelin...

If she dissolved it fast enough after maybe she could use without others noticing…

There was no time to hesitate.

Aisha took a deep breathe and summoned from her fingertips a light violet colored gelatin-like spear and threw it.


	11. Bloom

**_Bloom. Bloom, you need to listen-_ **

**_No._ **

Bloom blinked, coming back to herself.

She’d been in the barn just a minute ago with Stella, but the Burned One hadn’t been there. And then… she’d heard it again, that voice calling out to her, warm and inviting.

Now she found herself in the woods, away from Stella and the others, staring down a Burned One as it stood still, watching her for a moment longer, as if trying to communicate, before it let out a screeching whine and charged.

Bloom’s eyes widened and she brought her hands up attempting to summon even a flicker of fire, but she was unable to.

Bloom flinched as it leapt at her and squeezed her eyes closed, only to hear it let out a pained shriek.

There was silence for a moment and slowly Bloom cracked one eye open, afraid she would still be facing her imminent doom. 

The Burned One had been pinned to a log, body limp, as the magic that struck it dissipated in the air in a flurry of pinkish-purple flecks that quickly melted out of existence.

Bloom jumped back as the last of it disappear and the body fell to the ground.

“Bloom!” She turned, spotting Aisha running toward her. “Bloom, are you alright?”

“I,” Bloom glanced at the Burned One, before shaking her head. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Is… is it dead?”

Aisha took a step closer, leaning forward to peer at it. “I don’t think so. But I do see Stella’s ring.” She pointed at a spot on the burned one’s chest where Bloom could see a flash of silver and yellow.

“Good, that’s good.” Bloom muttered.

They both stood there.

“Are you going to get it?” Aisha urged.

“What, why me?”

“I took it down,” Aisha pointed out.

Bloom stared at her for a moment, unable to come up with any reason why she shouldn’t do it, before groaning and cautiously approaching the unconscious monster. Crouching down, she carefully reached forward and plucked the ring out, face wrinkling in disgust as the flesh clung to it in some places and crumbled in others.

She quickly stood, putting the ring in her pocket and wiping her hand on her denim jacket. “Okay,” her voice was breathy as she spoke, “let’s go find the others.”

Aisha nodded in agreement and the two began to head back to the barn, only for a scream to pierce the atmosphere.

Their eyes widened and they glanced at each other before taking off towards the scream.

Bloom heard a rustling sound behind her and turned, cursing when she spotted the Burned One beginning to pursuit.

“It woke up!” She shouted at Aisha.

“Shit! Just keep running!” Aisha ordered turning back to throw a jet of water at it with two quick flicks of her hand.

She then grabbed Bloom’s hand and picked up speed, trying not to lose the red head in their escape attempt.

They passed the barn, not giving it a second look since the scream had come from passed it.

A short but breath stealing run away from it they found the others and Bloom stumbled, doing a double take as she found herself in an area surrounded by bodies and blood.

“What happened?” She questioned.

Tecna glanced up from where she and the others were huddled around a tree. “The Burned One escaped.”

Bloom already knew that well enough, but she hadn’t imagined it was capable of doing this much damage to an entire group of fully trained specialists, no matter how terrifying her two experiences with it had been. 

She and Aisha approached the group, wondering why they were all huddled.

Aisha gasped. “Is that Silva?”

Flora nodded solemnly while feeding him a dose of Zanbaq Bloom remembered her grabbing from the green house before they’d left. “He’s not dead, we have to get him back to Alfea so my dad can treat him.”

Tecna was examining his body. “His wounds are very serious.” She looked around the group. “Musa, can I have you flannel?”

Musa, who previously had been staring at Silva with a pale face and haunted eyes, quickly turned her attention to Tecna. “Um, y-yean sure.” She fumbled with the knot at her waist for a moment before pulling the flannel away and handing it to Tecna.

Tecna nodded in thanks. “Try to focus on one of us, okay?” She instructed their roommate softly before turning her attention back to the situation at hand and folding the flannel to press it against a gapping claw mark on Silva’s side.

The man hissed, but quickly grit his teeth and slowly brought up one arm to hold it there.

“It’s not much, but it’ll have to do.” Tecna sighed.

“You girls… need to get out of here.” Silva hissed out in pain.

Stella shook her head. “No way are we leaving you.” She tried to give him a soft smile and joked, “Sky and Brandon would kill me if I didn’t try to save you.”

Silva’s eyes looked at her, pained. “The boys… Stella, tell them…”

The blonde quickly shook her head. “No, no. Whatever it is you can tell them yourself.” She looked at Tecna. Is it safe to move him?”

Tecna hesitated. “We don’t have much of a choice.”

Flora nodded and she and Stella quickly wrapped an arm around Silva’s back, helping lift and support him. Aisha stood behind the three, ready to reach out and catch Silva if he were to fall.

“Let’s get going,” Musa murmured, slightly calmer than before.

Bloom looked back, hearing something once more and noticing something dark dart through the trees.

“Guys…” Bloom started and the cried out in alarm as the Burned One suddenly leapt out.

“Bloom!” Musa shouted, just as The Burned One began to glow a gold light from the inside and exploded into a fine dust.

Behind it stood Headmistress Dowling, face grave as she took notice of her fellow teacher. She quickly made her way over. 

“We will discuss this later,” She told the girls before fussing over the man and leading them back to the school.

~~~

Headmistress Dowling led them through the grounds with all the authority of a military leader, barking orders at the older students.

“Sam!” Flora suddenly shouted and Bloom followed her gaze to a boy sitting in an alcove surrounded by books, though like all the other students he had been watching them carry Silva. “Go find dad!”

The boy seemed to snap out of the state everyone else was in and nodded, quickly standing and running off.

“Dad?” Bloom heard Musa mutter, but decided it wasn’t important. The mind fairy had been in a relatively unresponsive state for awhile, and while Bloom was worried it had to take a back seat.

“What’s going on?” A blond boy Bloom recognized from yesterday, his name was Brandon if she remembered, ran up to them gaze darting to Silva in concern.

Stella paused for a moment before continuing, she couldn’t stop as one of the people helping Silva along. “Bloom, could you catch him up? Silva’s his dad.” She instead requested.

Bloom’s eyes widened and she nodded, stopping to let the boy catch up with her.

“He got attacked by the Burned One they captured, it escaped and killed everyone else with him.” Bloom explained as quietly as she could, not wanting to alert the other students and cause a panic. 

She herself was struggling to handle the situation, fingertips seemingly one thought away from lighting, and she didn’t want to know what would happen if a whole school full of fairies whose magic was controlled by magic freaked out.

Brandon’s eyes widened. “I… I need to go find Sky. Tell him what’s going on.” He told her and Bloom had no time to tell him he should probably stay with his father and worry about the prince later before he was gone.

Bloom watched him for a moment longer, tempted to go after him and comfort him before she realized she had no idea what to say and decided it was better not to. At least the Prince might have an ide, having lost his own father from what Bloom had heard.

Bloom rushed to catch up with the others.

~~~

By the time night arrived they were all exhausted.

After getting Silva to the infirmary, Headmistress Dowling had quickly ushered them out and they’d waited a full three hours for a short lecture about how what they’d done was irresponsible and they should never repeat it and heard nothing about the state of the specialists’ teacher.

Bloom was also fairly certain the lecture hadn’t been longer due to Silva’s state being so bad. If they hadn’t been there with zanbaq to provide a dosage as soon as possible Bloom figured the results could have been much worse, if Flora and Tecna’s hushed conversation about it and some kind of “transformation” while they waited had been anything to go by.

All in all, Bloom was ready to collapse on her bed after giving Stella the ring, which the blonde had only stared at for a moment before squeezing it in her grip and murmuring a soft thank you, before heading to her own room.

“That was certainly an eventful day,” Flora joked lightly, sitting on her own bed and watching Bloom.

Bloom let out an affirming hum in response.

“I bet this isn’t exactly how you imagined it would be,” Flora softly continued. “Sorry about that.”

Bloom propped herself up on her elbows. “It’s not like you did anything. And, about the hole changeling thing… I guess it’s better to know instead of living my whole life a lie, even if it is… uncomfortable right now.”

Bloom thought of the voice she’d heard today. Or was it… voices? She could’ve sworn there was another in the mix when she’d faced the Burned One earlier.

“I want answers, if nothing else.” she aid.

Flora offered a tired smile. “Well, we’ll help when you’re ready.”

Bloom nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think I’m quite ready just yet.”

And then she gasped as white took her vision away.

And suddenly she was in some kind of surgical room, a woman with warm brown eyes and laughter lines staring down at her. 

**_“Come find me Bloom.”_ **

**_“N...om! I… si...hne,... list… to me!”_ **

**_“ I’ll tell you everything you need to know. So come find me.”_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And things are starting to get interesting!  
> It's important to note the effects I use on the voices. Can you guess who they are? probably.  
> Hope you enjoyed today's chapter!


	12. Sky

Sky swore that if one more person offered their condolences he would kill someone.

It wasn’t even as if Silva was dead!

It had been a week since Dowling had brought him to the campus Tainted by a Burned One and Sky wasn’t sure what to make of the situation.

Every day the man seemed to look wore, black veins beginning to creep past his shirt and his left hand beginning to darken and wither. The zanbaq was doing all it could to fight off the power of the Burned One’s Taint, but Sky knew that if the Specialist team that had been sent out could not track and kill the Burned One responsible for Silva’s Taint then the man would transform soon.

It terrified Sky.

He didn’t remember much of his father, in all honesty, the king of Eraklyon had been a distant figure fighting in the war against the Burned Ones, and Sky only had one clear memory of his father, the day he’d left two months before Silva came with the news of his death. Since then, Silva had been there to help raise Sky with his mother, bringing Brandon to visit and taking Sky with him to the school for trips.

He didn’t want to lose Silva like he had his father, so the consolation was nice in some way, but not at the expense of Brandon.

Silva wasn’t his father, and Sky had always known that. It was defining in their relationship, and part of what made the act of being Brandon so hard. Sky didn’t want Silva as his father, he’d had one and now he has Silva, that was fine enough as far as labels went.

Except Sky was Silva’s “son” now and everyone came up to him, telling him they all hoped for the best, while Sky could only watch Brandon fret and worry and despair on his own. No one was worried about how the prince felt about their teacher, despite it being well known Silva was close to the royal family.

Sky wished he could give all of it to Brandon, who rightfully deserved it. He wished he could approach the boy who’d practically been his brother since birth, but he couldn’t bring himself to.

There was a distance between them they couldn’t cross, and Sky knew it was him who’d put it there when they’d started school last year. At first the switch had seemed like a game, both of them making cheap jokes and imitations of each other, but as it went on the graveness of the situation hit.

First, it had been Aunt Farah changing not only her own, but Flora, Sam and Uncle Harvey’s memories.

Then, it had been an attempted assassination where Brandon had almost died.

Sky had blamed himself, still does, for putting Brandon in that position, and he’d distanced himself. He knew Brandon thought it was his own fault, and Silva blamed himself, but Sky was the reason for it all.

So he’d tried his best to separate from them, becoming friends with Riven in the process of doing his hardest not to train with brandon.

He didn’t think the distance was a good idea anymore, because Silva and brandon are still hurting and Sky doesn’t know ho to help.

Instead, he hides away from everyone’s suffocating worry in a garden at the center of the school. Not many people go there, so it’s the perfect place to escape.

Sky sat on a cool stone bench under a willow tree Flora had once told him her mother and father grew together with their combined magic. His hands splayed out on the stone as he leaned forward, head hung low, just breathing.

The sounds of the door to get outside opening and footsteps drew his attention upward and he watched a familiar girl step into the garden.

It was Bloom, the red headed roommate of Stella’s that he’d met on the first day, and the one who had told him about Silva.

She stopped as she spotted him. “Oh, uh, sorry.” She said sheepishly. “Do you want me to go.”

Sky contemplated saying yes, but she’s one of the few students who hadn’t been up in his face the past few days, and it wasn’t as though she’d done anything to him. Plus, she looked tired.

Sky shook his head. “No, it’s fine. You can sit if you want.” He motioned to the spot on the bench next to him.

Bloom hesitated, before making her way over to sit beside him. “How are you holding up?”

Sky sighed. “Fine. It’s… terrifying, but they’ve got the best specialists out there, so I have hope.” He tried for an amused smile. “Kind of wish everyone would get out of my face though.”

Bloom chuckled slightly. “I can imagine. Sorry about that.”

“Not your fault people think they’re being nice when they’re really just rubbing it in my face.” Sky looked over at her curiously. “What are you doing here though?”

“Oh,” Bloom trailed off. “I’ve just been looking around. Trying to find… something.” Her eyes darted around the small garden as if what she was looking for would be there.

Sky raised an eyebrow. “What are you looking for? I spent part of my childhood here, I know the grounds pretty well. Though, Flora could probably help more.”

Bloom smiled drylly. “It’s nothing you can help with. I’m looking for a peron.”

Sky wondered who, but something in Bloom’s eyes gave him the impression she wasn’t up for a friendly chat about it. Probably better to back off, then.

Sky turned his attention away, unsure of what to say.

“I guess we’re a bit similar.” Bloom spoke up eventually, continuing when Sky looked over. “We’re both looking for answers.”

“I’m not-” Sky started to deny but then stopped. Was he?

He wanted to help Brandon and Silva, but that didn’t constitute to looking for answers. Except that this had been his and Brandon’s favorite spot to hide away from Silva when they were younger, the man never seemed to venture far enough into the school when looking for them. It was a place of happy memories.

Had Sky been hoping it would provide him with a solution?

“Maybe you’re right,” He relented.

Bloom’s watched him for a moment, blue sparkling. “Do you ever feel like you’re entire life is a lie?” She asked, then turned away.

He does.

Maybe it’s the garden, it was the first time they’d held a long conversation after all, but Sky felt like they were both about to lay themselves bare before each other. There was a vulnerability that had been brought to the surface in the girl before him, and he had no idea what to do.

The door swung open before he had to decide, and Brandon stood there, panting, brunet hair falling in his face.

“S-” Brandon cut himself off when he saw Sky with Bloom. “Brandon!”

The franticness in his eyes had Sky standing swiftly and making his way over, curtains closed on the moment that had just occurred beneath the willow tree.

“What is it?” He questioned.

“They’re dead.” Brandon responds. “The Specialists- they’re all either dead or transformed. They tracked it to the barrier though. If we can find it then we can kill it, and d- Silva will be fine.”

He was babbling, clutching onto Sky’s uniform.

Sky grabs his shoulders, shaking Brandon lightly. “No, that’s suicide. We don’t even know where it is.”

“It’s almost at his heart.” Brandon murmured, and Sky froze. Brandon’s head falls to his shoulder, emotionally drained. “Sky, he’s going to be gone by the end of the night. I can’t…”

Sky wrapped his arms around his brother in all but blood, squeezing him tight as he stared past Brandon at the wall, trying to digest the information.

“Okay,” He finally spoke up. “Okay, let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally get a Sky chapter!  
> Don't ask me about Sky's logic on distancing himself from Brandon when Brandon is still him to "keep him safe" or whatever. He is guilty and a boy, the logic gets kind of warped in these kinds of situations.  
> I'm considering writing a pre-series short story/oneshot about that whole assassination attempt I mentioned. Thoughts?  
> I'm also trying to get the ball rolling on Bloom x Sky but sorry if the bonding scene seems awkward/forced, let me know and I'll try to slow it down/make it more natural. My logic is their both stressed right now so a bit more vulnerable.  
> Also, you might have noticed this is officially part of a series! This book is going to cut off with my version of the season 1 ending.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	13. Brandon

Brandon pulled away from Sky, suddenly doubting himself now that he has the other on board. He’ll do anything to save his father, but Sky…

“Are you sure? Maybe you should-” Sky cut him off.

“No, I’m coming with you.” His voice is determined enough that brandon knew there was no convincing him not to.

A voice cleared behind them, and brandon looked past Sky to see Bloom standing there, her arms crossed.

He panicked internally. Had she heard him? Did she know now?

“You two aren’t going anywhere alone.” She said. “I’ll come with you.”

So she didn’t know, but this as still a problem.

“We can’t ask you to do that,” Sky denied. “He’s our family.”

Bloom raised an eyebrow, glancing at Brandon before turning her attention back to Sky. of course she’s wondering why the prince is included in this said family.

She went to speak and then paused, gaze turning somewhere north. Then she looked back over. “You’ll take me with you, because I know exactly where the burned One is.”

“What? How?” Brandon piped up.

Bloom shrugged. “Fire magic connection?”

She clearly didn’t know, and Brandon hadn’t even known that was possible. But the Burned ones did originate from fire magic.

Brandon and Sky exchanged a look. Sky seemed to be agreeing, if the urging look on his face as anything to go by.

Well, they did need a fairy. Brandon had been planning on finding Sam, but it would take more time to track him down, and Bloom was standing in front of him.

Brandon sighed. “Alright, yeah. Lead the way, Bloom.”

~~~

Before any hunting of the Burned One could occur, Brandon and Sky made a trip to the weapons room, luckily enough for them it was in the direction Bloom was sensing the Burned One in.

Getting in took little more than A small conversation with the stationed specialists about how Sky and Brandon wanted to do some extra training to blow off some steam. And from there they’d easily been able to grab their weapons of choice.

“So, Bloom’s pretty headstrong.” Brandon offhandedly commented as he searched through the weapons, finally selecting a broad sword.

Sky looked over from where he was looking at shields. “What do you mean by that?”

Brandon shrugged, smirking slightly. “Nothing, just wondering what you were doing with her.”

As serious as the situation was he couldn’t resist the urge to tease Sky like they used to. It also helped lighten his mood some, distracting him from the fate of his father if they failed to kill the Burned One.

“We were just talking.”

“Uhuh.”

“Seriously, Brandon!”

“Alright, fine,” he chuckled. “You ready to go.”

Sky picked up a red and gold heater shield and strapped it to his back for the time being.He patted the sheathed long sword at his side, as if to make sure it was there. “As ready as I’ll ever be to fight a burned one.”

The two exitted the weapons room and made there way back to where Bloom was waiting for them, pacing slightly impatiently.

“Took you long enough.” She greeted. “Come on, it’s gotten further.”

~~~

Bloom led them through the maze, taking them to the Stonehenge, and into the forest beyond. 

Brandon glanced around, on edge despite them not being past the barrier yet. There were still other dangers. Sky, Flora, Sam and he had discovered that the hard way as children, having a run in with a bear that ended with Sam using his boring magic to get them out of there and Sky injured.

“We’re at the edge.” Bloom announced from the front of the trio and Brandon looked to find they had indeed reached the barrier, the faint visual of warping standing as proof.

“How far do we have to go before we find it?” Sky asked her.

Bloom glanced back at him. “I don’t know. This isn’t exactly specific. I just know it’s this way. The voice is loud though, so it’s probably close.”

Voice? Bloom presented so many questions Brandon didn’t know how to get answers for. Did he even want answers? Magic was confusing enough already.

“Alright,” Brandon spoke up, and he drew his sword. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Wait,” Sky grabbed his forearm as brandon stepped forward to exit the safety of Alfea. “We need a plan. You and I will distract it while Bloom kills it.”

Bloom blinked. “Wait, why do I have to kill it?”

Brandon raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know?”

“She’s from the First World,” Sky muttered to him. The blonde sighed, turning to Bloom. “Only fairies can kill Burned Ones.”

“I have no idea how to do that.”

“Great,” Brandon muttered, “Just great. What do we do now?”

Suddenly, coming out didn’t seem like the good idea it had up until that moment. Bloom had no idea how to kill a Burned One and by the time they went back to the school to get another fairy the Burned One would be gone or it would be too late to save his dad.

Sky placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. “It’ll be alright. New plan, you distract the Burned One and I’ll do my best to walk Bloom through how to kill it. Aunt Farah did describe to us what killing a Burned One felt like once.”

The key word there was once. That had been when they were ten and Silva had told them a story of the war. It had been years since then, but Brandon guessed he really had no choice but to trust in Sky’s memory.

“Alright,” He agreed.

They walked through the barrier.

Almost immediately, Brandon heard a roaring shriek and was tackled to the ground. 

“Sky!” Sky shouted and in the panic it took Brandon a second to rewire his brain to answer the addressal.

“I’m good,” he grunted, kicking up with his leg to get the Burned One off of him. He rolled out of the way and evaluated the damage. The claws had pierced his right shoulder and he could faintly see the black Taint begin to appear.

Now they definitely had to kill it.

Brandon wung out with his sword and ducking the clawed swipe the Burned One attempted.

It cried out in rage as Brandon backed off. He was only trying to distract it, not get himself killed.

The Burned One charged towards him, and brandon threw himself to the ground as it launched over him and ended up connecting with a tree. It quickly shook off its daze, growled and climbed.

“Oh fuck,” Brandon swore, eyes turning to the canopy above. That was not good. It could leap at him from nowhere. “Guys, hurry up over there.”

“You need to focus, sense the magic core, and then… um… using your magic destroy it. Aunt Farah described it as taking the core within a metaphorical fist and crushing it. It’s probably different for you though.” Sky continued to quickly explain the phenomenon to Bloom, ignoring Brandon directly, but glancing over for a moment to evaluate the situation. His eyes grew grim as he noticed the wound on Brandon’s shoulder.

Brandon turned his attention back to the trees, wiping at his brow. He was beginning to feel hot, the Taint setting in. They needed to end this quickly.

The Burned One threw itself from the trees at the moment, diving down directly above Brandon.

Brandon dodged the beast, and it twisted to its feet quickly, prowling towards him. Brandon held his sword in front of him defensively, not wanting to strike first.

He glanced back at Bloom and Sky. Bloom’s brows were furrowed and her eyes tightly squeezed shut in concentration, and Sky had drawn his sword, incase he needed to step in or if the Burned One turned its attention to him and Bloom.

The Burned One Snarled and swung at Brandon.

Brandon lifted his sword, managing to stop the clawed fingers with his sword, but the Burned One kept pushing, backing Brandon against a tree as it attempted to reach his face.

The claws were inches away, and Brandon attempted to draw his head back further. From his peripheral vision he could see Sky charging forward, sword ready to attack.

“I’ve got it!” Bloom exclaimed then, and a second later the Burned One lit up a bright red from the inside and disintegrated.

Brandon gasped a large breathe, sinking down in relief.

They’d done it.

“You okay?” Sky demanded to know as he raced up to Brandon, offering a hand.

Brandon grinned. “Yeah, no thanks to you.” 

Sky grimaced. “Sorry.”

“It’s no problem,” Brandon placated as he moved his left arm back to brace against the tree and rise to his feet. He then placed his hand against his right shoulder and pressed down, wincing at the pain, but knowing he had to start stopping the blood flow.

Sky smiled. “Come on, let’s get back to the school and see Dad.”

“You should probably get that wound taken care of first though,” Bloom pointed at brandon. “Don’t make me sic Stella on you when we get back. She’s going to be mad enough about you not taking her, let alone you not taking care of yourself after.”

Brandon groaned at the playful taunt, “Please don’t. I’ll deal with it and visit tonight.”

Bloom nodded in approval. “Let’s go then, boys.”

They began the trip back to the school, and Brandon felt lighter than he had in a week.

Everything was alright again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Or at least he thinks it is. The boys aren't exactly aware of the stuff going on with the girls XD.  
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	14. Flora

Flora stepped out of her dorm room, peering around curiously. “Have you guys seen Bloom?”

Tecna looked up from where she was working on her laptop on the coach. “She went out looking for the mystery woman again.” She ran a hand through her hair, moving pink bangs back.

Flora’s shoulders sank slightly. They were all beginning to feel exhausted by Bloom’s insistent search for whoever she’d seen after, what had seemed to Flora, passing out. 

She’d woken up a short while later and told them about her vision, and had come to the conclusion that whoever she’d seen, they must have been a student at Alfea. And so her search through every photo in the school began. A week after Silva and the vision, she was still looking.

“Do you think we should talk to her?” Flora asked, moving over to take a seat on the coach next to Tecna.

Musa glanced up from her phone across the room, and Aisha from her homework. It seemed it was something most of them had been thinking about.

“Like an intervention?” Aisha questioned.

“Yeah,” Flora agreed. “I mean, she hasn’t turned anything up, and at this point I’m getting a little worried.”

Musa raised an eyebrow. “It was worrying when she had a vision and I heard complete silence from her aura for a good minute.”

“What would we even say though?” Aisha questioned.

They were silent, each mulling over the question to figure out the best approach.

“How about,” Tecna spoke up, “We wait a day or two more, and if nothing changes, we bring it up with Stella.”

Flora nodded, just then noticing the absence of their sixth roommate. She was likely either with Brandon or in a private lesson with Aunt Farah. 

“You know,” Flora started. “I never thought school was this complicated. What happened to all the boy troubles we’re supposed to be having instead of…  _ this _ ?” she motioned vaguely to the air in front of her as if to prove her point.

Flora noticed AIsha glance over at Musa with an expectant look. Musa shot the other a look of complete denial and went to go back to her phone.

“Speaking of boys-”

“Aisha!” Musa broke in.

“What? Oh come on, Musa, you think she’ll be mad?”

“Well, no but… it’s weird.”

Flora watched them in confusion, peeking over at Tecna to see if she understood better, but the other seemed to have checked out of the discussion now that they’d moved on and was mumbling about calculations.

Flora timidly spoke up, “What’s going on?”

The two stopped arguing and instead stared each other down for a moment before Musa sighed.

“Alright, fine. So, I… could you introduce me to your brother?” The raven haired girl rushed out the question.

Flora blinked.

“Sam?”

“Yes.”

“ _ Sam _ ?”

“Unless you have another brother.”

“You like my brother?”

Flora needed a moment to wrap her head around the idea.

Musa immediately backpedaled. “No! I mean, well… no. I’ve never really met him, but it…” She struggled to articulate whatever she was trying to say and Flora waited patiently.

Musa picked up her phone and for a second Flora thought she’d backed out, Aisha clearly did too as she crossed her arms in disapproval.

But then Musa tapped on her screen and a sound started to play. At first, Flora thought it was the ocean, but the noise was too low and deep to be the sloshing of waves.

“It’s an avalanche,” Musa explained. “And it’s what your brother’s aura sounds like. I find it… soothing, and natural sounds in auras aren’t common.”

“So… he intrigues you?” Flora thought she was starting to understand.

She also didn’t miss the connection between the sound of her brother’s aura and his earth magic, but didn’t point it out since it wasn’t important.

Musa nodded in agreement.

“I guess I could introduce you two.”

~~~

Flora met Sam in the greenhouse at their usual time to water the plants while their dad worked a shift in the school infirmary.

“Hey Flor,” Sam greeted, putting his phone down and pulling out earbuds. “Miele called earlier, she was disappointed she couldn’t talk to her favorite cousin.”

Flora smiled, Miele, their younger cousin, lived with their Aunt Terra in Linphea and had blossoming earth magic - it seemed to run in the family. The cousins rarely got to see each other, With Flora and Sam’s father kept busy at the academy, and there was some tension between their father and their mother’s side of the family.

But Miele adored Flora, though she tried not to let Sam catch on, and Flora adored her in return. The younger almost felt more like a sister to her than a cousin.

“I’ll have to call her later,” Flora replied. 

“Yeah, it’d be a real shame if a stole the role of favorite cousin out from under year while your first year at school got the better of you.”

Flora swatted at her brother’s arm in retaliation and he chuckled before growing a bit more serious.

“Speaking of, how are you? I heard some rumors about you and your roommates and what’s been going on.” 

Flora sighed, she knew this conversation had been coming, but she’d expect it to be from her father. Only skillful use of the school’s lesser traveled hallways and intimate knowledge of her father’s schedule had spared Flora Ben Harvey’s wrath thus far.

“I’m fine,” she reassured Sam. “We’ve got into a bit of trouble, but nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“Uhuh.” 

Sam seemed unimpressed but let the subject drop. the two siblings went about their chores in silence, tenderly caring for the plants and giving a bit of magic to the ones that seemed a little under the weather.

Soon, the hour had ended and Flora remembered Musa was stopping by. 

“Hey Sam,” Flora broke the comfortable silence and her brother hummed in acknowledgement. “I actually wanted to introduce you to one of my roommates.”

Sam looked over, brows furrowed. “Weren’t you the one who insisted I stay out of your social life at school? Who are you and what have you done with my little sister?”

Flora snorted. “Shut it,  _ pendejo. _ ”

“There she is. But seriously, why?”

Flora shrugged, “She’s curious. And I know this is a lot to ask but --” Flora shot her brother pleading eyes-- “please try to be nice and hang out with her? Just this once, I won’t ask again if you don’t like it.”

Sam hesitated but caved. “Yeah, sure.”

Flora beamed at her brother. “Thank you Sam!”

The two quickly cleaned up the greenhouse and exited. Flora spotted Musa waiting outside for them, and a part of her heart sank in relief.

The girl wasn’t dressed any differently than normal. 

Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and her bangs had been pushed a bit more to the side of her face than usual, but other than that just regular old Musa. She wore a band t-shirt, an open flannel, jean short with frayed ends at the middle of her thigh, fishnet tights and converses.

Maybe Musa really didn’t like Sam, and it was just the magic curiosity. Flora didn’t have anything against Musa, but Sam hadn’t been known for the best relationships in the past and Flora worried for her brother.

His last girlfriend had been a real  _ perra _ .

“Hey,” Musa greeted, hopping down from the stone wall lining the pathway towards the greenhouse. She offered her hand to Sam with a tight lipped smile. “I’m Musa.”

Sam raised an eyebrow, but took her hand for a quick shake. “Sam, Flora’s brother.”

“I know,” Musa said supposedly without thinking and then seemed to think better of it and attempted to backpedal. “I mean- she told me - I mean… please stop me.”

Sam laughed slightly awkwardly and shot Flora a look she read as ‘ you so owe me.’

“Well, Flora cut in, “Musa, I’ll see you at the dorms, Sam, try not to scare away my friend.”

She passed between the two, offering Musa a short pat on the shoulder in reassurance and began the trip back.

Hopefully this wouldn’t come back to bite her in the form of an upset Musa or hurt Sam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a downtime chapter that goes on around the same time as the last two.  
> I kind of forgot about Miele until last week, and someone pointed out to me that Flora does mention a relative named Terra in one of the later seasons of the OG show, so I got our girls in even if the relationships are mish-mashed now XD.  
> We're giving Sam a bit more of a character and taking his and Musa's relationship slower! Because let's be honest, the way the show started their relationship is a little weird like, Sam just accepts that a girl likes him because of what his emotions feel like? You need more than that to start a relationship!  
> Why do I kind of want Musa's outfit though?  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	15. Stella

Stella had come to realize, they all needed a break.

Between the hectic first week and classes, Stella could see her roommates struggling not to run themselves ragged. And her own private lessons with Headmistress Dowling certainly weren’t helping her.

Plus, everything was not alright with Bloom. 

Stella had noticed her roommate growing more and more tired as the days passed during her fruitless search of the building, and Stella decided it was finally time to stand her ground and put an end to this, once and for all.

It was a good thing Stella was aware of the annual specialist party, which had been pushed back in light of the condition of the specialists’ head teacher. It was the perfect way to get some down time.

So, when Bloom slipped into the dorm later that evening, Stella stood waiting, hands on her hips.

“That’s it, Bloom.” Stella boldly declared, watching Bloom jump in surprise, turning from where she’d been closing the door.

“Stella?”

“You’re wearing yourself thin,” Stella voice softened. “You need to take a break.”

“No, I’m fine,” Bloom attempted to deny.

“Nu-uh. This isn’t up for debate. You are going to give your parents a call, have a nice chat, and then I’m taking you and the others to a party tonight. We all need the downtime, you’ve all been stressed about the school load, and you specifically have been stressed because of magic-y magic.”

Stella pointed a finger at Bloom. “Well I declare tonight a magic free night!”

Bloom looked like she was about to protest but Stella ushered her into her and Flora’s room, handing her her phone. “Call your parents and be ready in an hour and a half.”

Stella left to get the others out of their homework stupors.

~~~

Tecna had been the hardest to wrangle, insisting on getting more work done, but between Stella’s pestering and Musa shouting that she’d drag Tecna out if it would get Stella to leave, they finally managed.

The girls convened in the common room.

“Alright,” Stella began, doing her best impersonation of a drill sergeant, garnering a few raised eyebrows. “As the princess of Solaria, it is my duty to make sure those surrounding me look their best.”

“What?” Tecna deadpanned.

Stella pouted. “Come on, lt me have my fun.”

“Go on, Stella.” Flora encouraged, smiling in amusement.

Stella nodded and began her assessment.

Tecna was dressed in purple metallic jeans and a green crop top, her bangs pinned back more than usually so they didn’t flop in her face. It was more effort than Stella had expected, and she didn’t feel like pushing her luck.

Musa wore a shortened, red hanfu dress with loose sleeves and gold lining. Her hair was in a partial up-do and she’d painted her lips with black lipstick. For shoes, she’d put on flats.

Stella tapped her friend’s lips and teased, “You really need to have some form of goth, don’t you?”

Musa scowled and swatted her hand away. “I’m not goth. Do I pass or not?”

“You’re good. You look fabulous,” Stella assured. 

She wasn’t entirely sure what was up with Musa’s love life, but she knew when someone was interested in a boy. Some encouragement towards her friend would go a long way in helping, hopefully.

Aisha had put on black leggings, dance shoes, and a teal, off the shoulder top, with black straps wrapping over her shoulders. Her dark curls had been pulled back in a ponytail. Stella had no complaints.

Flora had kept it simple, with a pink blouse and light green skirt that fell to her knees. Stella almost wanted to push for shortening the skirt a bit, but could tell Flora was already slightly uncomfortable and decided against it.

She booped the other girl’s nose and smiled. “Beautiful.” 

Flora blushed slightly and smiled in gratitude.

“Alright,” lay it on me coach,” Bloom said, when Stella approached her.

Stella raised an eyebrow and gave Bloom a once over.

She wore a simple blue dress, with gray sleeves. It looked nice on her, contrasting with her hair and making the red pop.

“You look great, Bloom. Although…” Stella trailed off. There was something missing. “I’ll be right back.”

She strided over to her room and rummaged through her jewelry box for a moment. She knew she’d brought it with her, remembered wanting to spite her mother just a bit and taking it from the palace treasury.

“Aha!” Stella cried and triumph and headed back out to the living room.

Stella held out the piece to Bloom, who hesitantly took and examined it.

It was a dragon pendant, with a small, ruby eye.

“Just be careful with it,” Stella said. “It’s a Solarian treasure, salvaged from Domino or something.”

She’d never cared to get the specific stories behind a lot fo the artifacts her mother housed in the castle.

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to have it then?” Bloom questioned.

Stella waved her off. “Yeah totally, you can just give it back later. Or not, you look nice with it.”

Bloom grinned she put it on, the dragon hanging just above where her dress’s v-neck ended. “Thanks.”

Stella smirked in return. “No need. Now, let’s party!”

~~~

Stella was glad to see her plan was working. 

The group of six had snuck their way carefully through the school and eventually made it to the back of the building used to house the Specialist weapons, where they’d then taken a secret passage even further down into a lower floor. The party had already been in full swing when they got there.

Aisha and Musa had immediately found their way to the dance floor, showing off impressive skills to each other and those around them.

Flora and Tecna, not as social or comfortable at parties apparently, had found a quieter corner of the room to relax in, making small talk with each other and those nearby.

Stella was making herself busy flitting around groups, chatting with people she’d known the year before, ~~ and who still wanted to talk to her ~~ , and with other first years.

Stella scanned the room, trying to evaluate where her roommates were. She didn’t doubt they could take care of themselves, but she still felt responsible for them as the one with the most experience in this kind of situation.

Aisha was still on the dance floor, her teal shirt catching the light and shimmering. 

Musa was talking with a boy who Stella recognized as Flora’s brother, Sam. Interesting.

Tecna was in the corner talking with a specialist Stella had seen Sky with before. Timmy, was it? It was the most animated Stella had seen her tonight, so she could only assume they’d found some common ground.

Flora and Bloom were nowhere to be found.

Stella’s eyes darted around the room once more, growing a little more panicked. Where were they? They wouldn’t have left without telling anyone, right? Or, maybe they’d told one of the others?

Two arms snaked around Stella’s waist and she yelped, elbowing the person.

“Ow, ow, sorry.” A familiar voice cried.

Stella turned. “Oh my god, Sky I’m so sorry!”

She hadn’t seen her boyfriend in a few days, not since he’d told her about the debacle with the Burned One he, Brandon and Bloom had dealt with. She wasn’t mad at him, they had just both been busy since.

“It’s all good,” He grinned sheepishly. “My fault for sneaking up on you.”

Stella snorted. “Yeah. What’s up?”

“Nothing much.”

“Have you seen Bloom? Or Flora?” Stella hated to bring it up when she was seeing him for the first time in a while, but she was worried.

Sky shrugged. “I saw Bloom talking to Brandon earlier, dunno where they went though. Haven’t seen Flora in awhile, though.”

Stella felt like she was learning so much about her roommates lives tonight.

“Ah, thanks.” Stella figured if Bloom was with Brandon there wasn’t much to worry about. Flora was still a little concerning though…

“May I have this dance?” Sky asked, dragging Stella out of her thoughts.

Stella hesitated. On one hand, there was Flora, but on the other hand, this party was full of Specialists and other fairies Stella knew could and would stop something from happening to others and this was supposed to be a night for her and the others to relax.

Stella caved, letting her boyfriend take her hand and pull her to the dance floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing bad has happened to Flora, don't worry!  
> I'm planning on each girl getting a chapter for the party, because there's going to be some bonding and character backstory/building. Basically, some calm before the storm chapters XD.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	16. Tecna

Tecna felt the party was a waste of time.

As she looked out at the hoard of dancing teens and flashing lights, she couldn’t help but wonder how this aspect of the school life appealed to anyone. She was at Alfea to study and learn, and while she found enjoyment in spending time with her roommates it wasn’t as though they were hanging out at the party, everyone had dispersed upon arrival.

She would much rather be in her room studying either for her classes or for her own purposes.

“You should relax,” Flora urged, “Go out and dance a little. Have some fun.”

“You’re not dancing either,” Tecna pointed out, taking a drink of the soda she’d grabbed on their way in. She didn’t particularly enjoy the drink, but the tingling of her tongue provided a distraction from the pounding music.

Flora shifted, resting a hand on her chin and shrugging. “I’m not much of a dancer.” 

Flora was silent for a moment before continuing to say, “You know, I snuck into one of these parties with my brother, Brandon and Sky once when we were kids. We followed one of the Specialists down. I got picked on by some of the fairies and specialists until one group took pity and got me back to the greenhouse. The boys had better luck. The Specialists didn’t want to upset the kids basically attached to Silva’s sides, and Sam stayed close to them.”

Tecna’s brows furrowed. “That’s horrible. Why’d you agree to come here then?”

“I’m not a kid anymore. I don’t need to be afraid because I can take care of myself. But… I’m not keen on throwing myself into the crowd.”

Tecna offered a small smile. “Fair enough.”

“What about you? Any particular reason you don’t like parties.”

Tecna paused. On one hand, Flora had just offered her a piece of personal information that had probably impacted her greatly, but on the other hand, the issue was one linked to that of a larger problem Tecna had been warned to stay away from by Headmistress Dowling after Tecna had brought it up in class one day.

Something about the dying magic of a realm being a sensitive topic for many. Tecna thought it was just a way for the general public as a whole to keep living in delusions of everything being fine; no one on or from Zenith had ever contested to the matter being spoken of, and they were the ones directly affected.

“There just… wasn’t a lot of time for stuff like this back home,” Tecna ended up replying.

“Ah-fair enough. Zenith is known for its serious nature.” Flora tried to crack a joke about it, but her smile was pitiful compared to her usual beams.

Tecna nodded and then laid her head down between her arms, watching the room without taking in much of what was happening.

The truth was, Zenith was a very serious place now a days. People went where they needed to and went home, you rarely saw friend groups walking around and joking or heard discussions in the streets.

The use of magic was highly regulated in the Realm due to the Magic cores instability over recent years - any spell gone awry could worsen its condition.

Tecna didn’t much remember the time before that, but she had a few stollen memories of family gatherings and her parents happy, and glimpses into the past through photos framed in her family’s home of cheery parks and happier days.

That had changed as soon as the first announcement from the royal family of Zenith officially announced that the family magic had been fluctuating and beginning to disappear in older members of the family.

Everyone knew what that had meant. The specialized magic of each royal family was due to the connection their bloodline held to the very essence of the the Realm - the magic core - hence, when a magic core became unstable and began dying, the magic of the family would begin to die with it, the only warning a Realm ever received of it’s fate.

When the core died, the Realm went with it. First, the crops began to wither, leaving the Realm scrambling for food. Then, the climate dropped to freezing temperatures. And, eventually, the magic would just… stop, and the Realm would have to be abandoned. It had only ever happened one other time, with Domino. No one had made it out alive.

Everyone was sure Zenith would suffer the same fate, but Tecna was determined not to let that happen. She wanted to see her parents smile again, and she knew that if Zenith were to fall they never would. She was sure there was a way to fix the core, and technology had to be a part of the answer.

There was only one case of a Realm surviving without magic, The First World. Tecna had been there once, and through some experimenting and research had found some form of a core in the Realm. It felt magical in origin, but there had been something else to it, something she hadn’t been able to get a good read on.

Whatever it was, it held the solutions Tecna was looking for, and she was determined to crack it.

The technology of the world had been the first thing she’d looked at, it was more advanced than in the other Realms, due to humans needing it more, and at some point it had gone from research for her solution to a pastime as well.

Tecna was dragged from her thoughts when Flora rapped a knuckle next to her head.

Tecna glanced over at her through her bangs and noticed Bloom standing there. “What’s up?”

“I need help checking something out,” Bloom explained. “Flora was gonna come. Do you want in?”

It was a tempting offer, but tecna figured it was better if one of them stayed, in case the others came looking and said as much.

“Alright,” Flora nodded in agreement and stood. “See you later, Tecna.”

Tecna watched them depart before returning to her people watching.

After a moment she sighed, and pulled out her phone. If she was stuck at the party she might as well do some work.

Opening a document she’d made on her comparison of Dominoan and Zenithic history, Tecna began going over her notes.

There was of course the founding of the Realms and their ruling families, but that was something all Realms shared - save perhaps the First World. Not much was known about its history. 

Other than that there weren’t many historical events that lined up as potential causes for Core instability.

Perhaps there were multiple ways for it to occur? That would make Tecna’s goal harder to reach, generally speaking. There would be more variables she’d need to take into account so as not to worsen the condition or accidentally endanger another Realm.

A finger tapped tecna on the shoulder and she jumped. Whipping around she found a ginger haired boy with glasses sheepishly smiling at her and raising his hands in a show of innocence.

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” He apologized.

Tecna stared at him, frowning. What did he want?

She glanced down at herself, suddenly becoming aware of what kind of message her outfit might be sending or what boys might think. She hadn’t cared when getting ready, she felt comfortable in them and it got Stella off her back, now she slightly regretted it.

Boys had always been strange creatures to her, not only in their idiotic behavior, but because Tecna had never actually felt what most girls her age were supposed to feel for them, or for anyone for that matter. It didn’t really concern her beyond the occasional niggling thought of yet another way she was different. She thought herself just too busy for boys and the distractions they brought, but it was something she had on her list to look into at a later date.

“Not interest,” Tecna told him firmly, turning back to her phone and hoping that that was that.

“Wha- no! Oh, lord, I am so sorry if I came across like that! I mean, I didn’t even really say anything yet but I must have done something to- you know what it doesn’t matter. I’m not here to flirt or anything, it’s just… I noticed you were looking into Domino and Zenith?” The boy was rambling, and Tecna vaguely listened to the background noise until the last part.

She glanced over sharply. “You know something about it?”

He shrugged timidly. “A bit. I’m a specialist in training. I’m one of the best strategists and research a bit in terrains, even ones you can’t fight in. So, I learned a bit about Domino to figure out what it was like- history ended up getting thrown in the mix.”

Tecna appraised him for a moment. Now that she was paying attention, he was dressed much more casually than other boys she’d seen at the party. He wore jeans, a green t-shirt and a jacket, probably from his Specialist unit given the numbers located on the right sleeve.

She figured it couldn’t hurt to hear another person out and get a second opinion on some of her theories.

“Alright, sit down.” She offered a hand for him to shake, figuring it was only polite. “I’m Tecna.”

He offered a smile. “Nice to meet you, I’m Timmy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I maybe abuse Tecna being the smart one to info dump some world building? Maybe, but it also gave her some character motivation!  
> Naming nationalities is actually really hard XD  
> I know we caught a glimpse of him a couple chapters ago, but Timmy is officially a character!  
> Also, if it wasn't clear Tecna is aro/ace representation - I know, I know, I'm falling into the overused stereotype of them being really intelligent, but re-watching the original show she just gives me those vibes and I always felt her and Timmy made better friends than a couple.  
> And she won't be the only representation. Speaking of... how would people feel if in the next book I made one of the two love interests from the OG show we haven't met yet female? I know it's controversial when people change the gender of a character in remakes/reboots sometimes so I wanted opinions first before I made any decisions.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
